Ever After
by Maire Grey
Summary: Sarah comes home changed from her Labrynth adventure. Struck with a depression she does not know or understand, she goes through life miserably until college. Jareth, unable to bear her pain any longer, meets with her to help her figure out her depression and her background. It all comes down to the people of ancient Ireland, the Tuath dé.
1. Thursday's Child

"At the end of the day faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. It's like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And it's not so important happy ever after, just that its happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you and once in a while people may even take your breath away." – Sarah Williams

The morning after her Labyrinth adventure, Sarah stretched as she woke up and smiled. What an incredible time! Her fairytale loving little heart was bursting with excitement.

Somehow, in her mind, such things were always possible and were truly out there! She had had an unbelievable adventure, she had done something that no one else had been able to do, she had discovered the strength and bravery she never knew she had. She had corrected a mistake that she never should have made, she had made some new friends that she couldn't wait to see you again, she had discovered another world - make that another magical world, and she had met…

Someone she could not forget. Someone who, at first terrified her, and pushed all her buttons, infuriated her, someone who challenged her, someone who, for a brief moment, had made her feel like a queen. Someone who seemed like the handsome, powerful character that you would read about in story books.

But someone she had rejected several times. She thought a bit more. There was the tiniest amount of regret in that. She would have liked to have gotten to know him better. But she had to reject him! She had to get Toby back, and Jareth was too old for her!

She was old enough to date boys her own age, even though that didn't interest her right now, but no one her age she knew would have dated a man Jareth's age.

She felt so inexperienced and out of her depth at times, down there. Besides, she was still a kid. Even though she would be driving in a few months and she was taking some university courses because of her AP status, she hadn't traveled the world or anything.

She hadn't done much of anything. Why would someone like that - a powerful king, be interested in her? It made her feel vaguely uncomfortable but sad at the same time.

She actually missed him and wanted to explain things. Again, she knew she was too young for them to date right now, but she still wanted to get to know him better, she was so fascinated by him and by the dichotomies in his personality.

Then there were her friends. Ludo, Hoggle, Sir Didymus – they'd said that they would come to her whenever she needed them. How amazing was that! After her little celebration with them, the bouncing on the bed craziness of last night, she smiled. They were so funny – yet they all had hearts of gold.

Even some of the funny little Goblins, and the Fireys had come to celebrate last night. She looked around her room and saw a mess from their little party last night. Books pulled off the shelf. Stuffed animals on the floor. Pillows from her bed strewn all about. The few pictures that she had in her room were tilted on the wall, and the rug to the side of her bed had been kicked across the room. Someone had gotten into her make up and drawn lipstick scribbles all over her mirror! She wanted to see her friends again.

"Hoggle! Ludo! Sir Didymus!" Not a sound. She looked around her room. And they did not appear. It could be, she reasoned, that they would only show themselves if she were in trouble. They had said "Should you ever need us." Perhaps that meant that if only she were in trouble of some sort she could call on them then. That made sense, but it also made her very sad. They seemed like they would be so much fun to have around.

And Jareth. While she was absolutely certain that she had made the right decision, there was still a part of her that felt bad somehow. Yes, he had been absolutely awful at times, but just before she left, and during the Peach Dream, she had looked into his eyes and saw something true and unknowable. His face, after she had said the words, was so stricken. Maybe she could just explain things again…

"Jareth?" she softly called out."Jareth, I think you can hear me. Can I call on you? Would you come up here? I have some things that I would like to tell you." She felt somewhat foolish doing this.

He was the king of a kingdom, of all things! He could turn the world around for her, and it still had not been enough. In the space of 12 hours he had given her all of her fantasy dreams, and still she rebuffed him. He been rejected three times by a 16 year-old girl. Why would he even be interested in hearing what she had to say? Still, he had said that he loved her. Surely that was worth something. She slid out of bed and put on her fluffy slippers.

Maybe later, she thought. Maybe when he wasn't so busy. I'm going to keep trying until I get some kind of sign, she thought. Even if he is a king, even if he is busy, eventually, maybe, he would want to hear what she wanted to say. She cringed. Or not. He was probably angry with her. Maybe that was the look she had seen, shock and anger, not sadness. Not for the loss of a 16-year-old brat!

She shuffled over to her dressing table. The slippers were a little big. But she loved them. She looked down at them, purple and fluffy, with glittery threads. She smiled. Jareth would probably approve!

She wondered to herself how she could find a man that looked like he did so very attractive. Although certain Rock Stars did, none of the boys she knew wore makeup like that. Certainly none of them had hair like that. But then - they were just boys, and Jareth was truly a man. His high cheekbones, beautiful eyes, sculpted chin - she could not get him out of her mind. And considering what he did, and that he was the king of a very strange country, it somehow all worked together. The severe black outfits, tights, boots, even glitter in his cape.

Glancing down at the floor, she noticed a soft white feather. She picked it up and looked at it wonderingly. Then, for safekeeping, she placed it into her Labyrinth book. Peering into the mirror, she could see that her hair was a bit of a mess. She had been so tired last night that after everyone had left she had barely gotten her pajamas on. Not really pajamas. Her Stanford t-shirt and flannel shorts. But her face was a little dirty too.

Suddenly she glanced up at the edge of the mirror and wondered where the photos were that had been there. Where? Suddenly she remembered. She had taken them down last night.

Opening up the dressing table drawer, she pulled them out and looked at each one. They were photographs of David Bowie. Her absolute idol and crush for just years now. She had most of his albums, was familiar with most of his personages, had even seen a few of his movies. David Bowie…. that was it! No wonder she found Jareth so attractive! He looked so much like David Bowie! She looked around her room, wonderingly. "Was that you?" she asked. "Did you change your appearance on purpose? Is that another one of the things that you did for me? Or was it just coincidence? You. You probably can't even hear me."

Wistfully she put the pictures back into the drawer and closed it. She vowed to continue trying to contact everyone somehow. Walking out her bedroom, she shut the door to keep Merlin and Toby out. It was effectively the last day of her childhood.

* * *

Last night, after returning home, Jareth went into his study and leaned against the wall. Closing his eyes, he let the back of his head thunk against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. He was overcome with despair, longing, and loss. He folded his arms around his knees, he hid his face in his arms, and grieved silently for the rest of the evening. He was so thankful there was no one there but the moon to see him weeping, shoulders silently shaking.

The next morning, he was still there. While he was still in his Goblin King shape, his wings had come out, and they were wrapped around him as he huddled on the floor. Very un-king like, he knew, but he didn't care. The one being that could possibly hold his heart had left him in no uncertain terms.

There would be no life with Sarah. No future with her at all. She had made that painfully clear. There would be no finding anyone else. Jareth knew how this worked for his people. It would've been impossible for him to have fallen in love with her if she were only human. But somewhere, deep in her ancestry, she held some remnant of the ancestry of his people. She didn't know this. The heart connection that happened to some of his people had hit him. Extremely hard. It was not yet known why this happened at all, or why it had more strength with some than with others. But in Jareth's case, he was smitten. And when he first discovered this, he had a sinking feeling that things were not going to turn out well. The age difference - that was not a problem. He was willing to wait until she was older. As an immortal, time meant to little to him. But she was mostly human, and she lived Aboveground. Her life was Aboveground. Why would she want to come down here? Why would she want to run a kingdom like his, taking in wished-always, dealing with politics, running a kingdom he trying to improve and handling mad goblins?

There was a soft shuffle outside his door and an urgent little knocking close to the bottom of the door. A small voice called out "Kingy? You in there?" Jareth pressed his lips into a straight line and shook his head back-and-forth, not saying anything. Damnit! Those crazy goblins were back! He was not in the mood for them today. Not at all.

"Kingy?" More persistent tapping on the door.

"Kingy, I has tea you like. Kingy is you –"

He had stood up and snapped his wings back in as he did so. The advantage to being an immortal with an owl therionthpic meant that he had full-size wings that he could use, snapping them out and in magically. These wings could only be seen by others of his kind. Humans could not see them, unless he was standing in front of a bright light. Then, they could see the shadow of huge wings, 6 feet long, on either side of his shoulders. Flying away took moments and was sometimes preferable to transporting by other means.

He moved at furious speed to the door and jerked it open. The little goblin holding the tea tray stepped back, terrified by the look on her king's face.

"I told you all last night that I did not wish to be disturbed!" he said between clenched teeth.

The little goblin looked down at her tray of tea. She was shaking under Jareth's glare. The tea cup and saucer were rattling. She adored Jareth. She had taken it upon herself to look out for his well-being whenever she could. He did not always appreciate this. In fact, he almost never appreciated it, she knew this, and kept at it. Certain that at some point she could turn his life around and make him a less cranky Kingy.

"Kingy not in throne room all morning," she stammered "I thought maybe you would like - would like tea – your tea. Kingy always likes his tea in the morning….." she was still looking down at the tray, shuffling her feet nervously. For a brief moment Jareth had an impulse to kick the tray across the hallway. Then he thought to himself, this little creature is only trying to help. He took a deep breath, summoning up patience from somewhere, and said, as kindly as he could,"Thank you, Spam. You have done well. You may set the tray on my desk." Then he turned and looked out the window while she scooted away out of the room. Unable to shut the door completely as she could not reach the door knob.

He sighed and took a deep breath. He was still absolutely heartbroken and miserable, but he knew that he still had things he was obligated to attend to. One of which might even make him feel better. He picked up the china teacup and was amazed that Spam had able to manage to get it here without dropping or breaking anything. It did not smell like his normal morning tea and after a sip, he could see that it did not taste like it either. He could have sworn it was made with water from the bog. Well, what could one expect of goblins? At least this one seemed to have better social skills than the others.

Sighing, he snapped his fingers and changed his clothes into an all black ensemble of leather with spikes on the collar which stood up menacingly. His eye make up was frightening, and he chose to forgo his usual beloved glitter. His boots had thick, high heels, and while he was already tall, the boots made him even more intimidatingly so. This was his "don't fuck with me today" outfit and that certainly reflected his mood. Looking into a mirror, he ran one hand through his hair, getting it to stand up even more and tipping the ends black. Great gods! he thought. I look like I belong in the band KISS! Jareth was able to travel freely between the two worlds. He had even taken several years off, before he became king, to learn more about the Aboveground and to attend University. Because of this, he had some knowledge (albeit somewhat incomplete), of the Aboveground and the culture and music there.

While at University, he and some of his University mates, humans who had no idea who he really was, had come up with a list during a night of heavy drinking. The list was of "The most annoying things in life on earth." They had meant it to be lighthearted and funny, and it was. Jareth had thought it would be hilarious to take the items from this list and assign them to the Goblins as names. So far, his favorites were Spam,Traffic, Mushy Peas, Bloat, Cramp, Halitosis, Mumble, Mime, and Dogbreath. Goblins were annoying little things, were they not? Jareth prided himself on his wit and sense of humor.

Striding into the throne room, he kicked a few goblins out of the way and threw himself onto the throne with one leg dangling over the arm. Clearing the room of the giggling and bouncing goblins took longer than it should have but finally he created a crystal through which he could see and hear Sarah, He bent his head down and pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. This was a habit of his when he was frustrated, angry, or didn't understand something. He was still devastated by yesterday's chain of events. He had to find a way to come to terms with this. That is what his father would have said. Actually, his father would have done something far more dramatic. But that was not Jareth's style. He felt numb at the moment.

This girl. Sarah. He had done so much for her, and she still had rejected him. She had exhausted him! Toby had been safe the entire time, Jareth had no intention of actually keeping him. This was all about Sarah, she was young, yes, she was naïve. But she was also incredibly intelligent, kind to everyone here she had met, mature for her age, and courageous. She had dared to stand up to him, the Goblin King! And some of the time he had spent with her he had tried to be as terrifying as possible.

Most people would have cowered in his presence when he behaved like that. And she was intriguing. He had only known who she was for a short time now. But what he knew about her, she herself was completely unaware of.

He refused to answer her call, although he could both see and hear her through her dressing table mirror as well as his crystal. He had told Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo that they were forbidden to enter her world again, amidst much outrage and sulking on their part. He had seen her last night, through her bedroom window, dancing and bouncing around with her new friends. He had been in owl form, and watched this happy celebration for his long as he could stand it. She was celebrating the fact that she had defeated him. On the one hand, his pride was hurt of course, but on the other hand, the fact that she seemed so overjoyed to have left him broke his heart.

There was a connection between them that would never be broken. It was very rare and his people called it the Anam Cara. Sarah had no idea what it was or how it would affect them. He had to remind himself that she was mostly human, and deserved to make her own choices. What to do? He could, however, speak to her of other things. But his feelings for her were so strong that he was not sure that he could stand even that. She was only 16 years old. He had no intention of doing anything untoward at all. He simply wanted her to stay with him at the castle long enough to get to know him, so that she could make an informed decision. She was his heart. He would have done anything to please her. He would have given her anything she wanted. He would have been her slave. He truly was in love with her.

What to do? Even now, she might refuse him. Again. He didn't think his heart could take it.

Setting the crystal down, Jareth stood up and made a decision. He may not be able to talk to her, let alone tell her anything, but he could still watch over her. He could help her, keep her safe. She would never know. At least in that way, he would be a small part of her life, and he could see her. Then, when she was older, he would find the right time to speak to her of so many things. From there on the decisions would be hers.

* * *

**You may or may not have noticed that this story is going to be based, to a great extent, on ancient Irish history, mythology, and present day culture. This is because, when I first saw the Labyrinth film I couldn't believe how similar it was to the Irish myths and fairytales that I've grown up with. I am Irish, have an extensive Irish family background, and I study ancient (think pre-Christian and pre-Celtic) history and mythology. The Irish language, which falls under the umbrella of Gaelic terminology, can be difficult to pronounce. Therefore, at the end of each chapter, if I have used a word or a name that might be unfamiliar to some, I will include notes on how to correctly pronounce it.**


	2. Changes

"We have to keep reinventing ourselves, almost every minute because the world can change in an instant. And there's no time for looking back. Sometimes the changes are forced on us. Sometimes they happen by accident and we make the most of them. We have to constantly come up with new ways to fix ourselves. So we change, we adapt. We create new versions of ourselves. We just need to be sure that this one is an improvement over the last." - Sarah Williams

For the first year after her Labyrinth adventure, Sarah tried to reach Jareth and her friends. No contact whatsoever. She began to doubt her own sanity. And stopped trying to call them as much. She would still talk to Jareth out loud at times, but she knew he couldn't or wouldn't hear her. She couldn't have been more wrong.

That had been too vivid, with too many details to have been a dream. Yet – she had no proof of anything but the feather. She became frustrated and depressed. This was something that was so important to her, and it was denied her. She continued to have dreams. Worse yet, there was no one that she could talk to.

She began to distance herself from friends and family. It was easy to distance herself from family. Sarah still blamed her father for the car accident that had left her motherless at nine years old. Then, in the space of a year, he had gone and remarried someone else. While she supposed Karen was a good person, she was also a terrific nag, and very nosy. Toby was just a baby, so he didn't count.

And as for friends at school, well - she became less and less interested in them. They seemed somehow, just immature and annoying. The things that they complained about, things they were excited about, held no interest for Sara at all.

They would have, before the labyrinth, but she came back changed. She came back more mature, more responsible, less self-centered, less spoiled, and she began to think so much more about others, and the power of words. She was very careful with her words now, knowing that you can't take them back. Knowing that they were powerful. Jareth had given her all of those things.

At first, this new Sarah pretended to be interested in all of the inanity, but pretending interest in what her friends had to say became so exhausting that eventually it stopped altogether. All of her friends in theatre class, her friends from drama and even her acting tutor, suddenly seems to just annoy her so much she wanted to crawl out of her own skin. So she dropped all of those extracurriculars.

This last move really concerned her father, who knew how important theatre was to Sarah, theatre, imagination, magical worlds, these things that she had always loved suddenly became an anethema to her, and her father became even more worried. Even Karen began to question all of the activities that Sara was dropping out of her life. One by one, her friends began to drop out of her life as well.

Sara, for the most part throughout her life, had been a cheery and kind little girl until her mother's death. Because it had happened when she was only nine, it had affected her greatly, perhaps more so than people knew.

Her father's rapid remarriage had affected her as well. And now, for reasons no one could understand, it was as though despair and anger bubbled up inside her and became her new normal. She did not know what was happening, and was unable to deal with it or fix it herself.

Once, after a particularly bad family argument, her father had taken her to a psychiatrist. She had listened to Sarah for approximately 20 minutes, raised her eyebrows quite frequently and scribbled away madly on a pad in front of her. When she was done, she suggested that Sarah see a therapist for talk therapy at least twice a week, and prescribed a multitude of drugs that were supposed to help her overcome her despair and to quote the doctor "Give her help in coming back to reality".

As her father drove her home, she pulled out the hefty bag of pharmaceuticals and read the names: Lithium, Clonazapram, Ambien, Hydroxyzine, Olanzapine, Lexapro, Valium and vitamin B complex. What?! No way was she taking all of this! Even the names were scary. The vitamin B, maybe. What was tormenting her would not be fixed by mind numbing drugs.

She had told her father in no uncertain terms that there was no way she was going to therapy twice a week. She said it wouldn't help, that she refused to speak to a stranger, and that it would be a waste of his money because she would just flat out refuse to speak to whomever the person was.

When asked to try just one session, Sarah sat in the chair, pulled her knees up and was good to her word. She said nothing. Just sighed with overdone boredom, looked around the room, rolled her eyes, and played "the eentsy weentsy spider" wordlessly with her hands. Secretly she was particularly proud of herself for thinking up this one. Inside she was laughing.

The therapist did not seem to catch on. And the idea was dropped, just as Sarah had hoped. Her father gave up after that, although he insisted that she take her meds as prescribed. Sarah tried this, and while she felt a little sleepy the first day, and the second day, by the third or fourth day she was almost flat out catatonic. She couldn't walk straight, couldn't remember anything or focus at school. If feeling nothing was supposed to be better than being in pain, she would take the pain. No way, absolutely no way this could continue. She flushed the meds, hid the bottles, and when her father gave her her monthly refills she continued with this game.

She did her best to hide the pain and depression that she felt, and for the most part, it worked. When she absolutely would lose it, when the tears were just ready to burst forth, she would dismiss herself and go somewhere private. Usually her room. All of those acting classes seem to have paid off, because she didn't stand out any longer. She just wanted to be left alone. Why was that so hard to understand?

Her mother said once, "It's one of those things people say. 'You can't move on until you let go of the past.' Letting go is the easy part, it's the moving on that's painful. So sometimes we fight it, trying to keep things the same. Things can't stay the same though. At some point you just have to let it go. Move on. Because no matter how painful it is, it's the only way we grow."

So, while she had OK days and horrible days, she muddled through the rest of school as best she could. Being able to study something so unlike her life absolutely saved her. And even more importantly, playing music on her mother's violin. The songs her mother had taught her, the ones they loved together.

She held on to those two things, as well as Patrick and Toby, and kept them in a safe, locked place inside her heart. And her mother. How could she forget her?

Maureen Fitzgerald Williams was probably one of the most beautiful women in the world, Sarah thought. She had large eyes like Sarah, thick, dark hair like Sarah, and the beautiful oval face with a pointed chin and sleek cheekbones that Sara would eventually have. She had very large, haunting grey eyes, whereas Sarah had green eyes. Maureen loved Sarah's eyes. She used to hold her face in her hands and tell her that her eyes had all of the colors of Ireland in them.

And she could laugh. She and her mother had had so much fun, just doing goofy things. Making fun of her Irish granddad's accent behind his back. Hiding his glasses. In very strange places. They put all of the clocks in the house at the wrong time, just to see the reactions. They hijacked her father's computer so that every key he hit didn't do anything but moo.

Saturday evenings were the best. She and her mom would stay up late, watching old movies. Her mother would braid her hair and they would cuddle up together under a thick knitted afghan. Sometimes watching movies that made them cry. But that was all right. Sometimes it was just fun to have a good cry over a movie character that didn't even exist.

They were alike in their care for animals. When she was younger, Sarahhad brought home all kinds of critters and they kept them for a little while, enjoyed them, and then gently put them back home where they were found. All except for a kitten Sarah had found after he'd almost fallen into a sewer grate. She had named him Salem Saberhagen after a funny, outspoken magical cat on TV. Salem was the best at listening and cuddling. When she would get these crying jags, and they were becoming more and more frequent, Salem would be right there - purring and cuddling up next to her, is if he were glued to her. He did the same thing, funnily enough, when she sang. Sarah knew she had a good voice, years of vocal training had seem to that. And before she quit she had been the lead in several high school musicals.

One of her absolute favorite things to do was to play duets with her mother on violin. Maureen was a violinist with the city symphony, an incomparable musician.

One night, when her father had driven her mother to work, her grandfather came into the house without ringing the bell. He came up to Sarah's bedroom and sat on the bed, holding her hand. His eyes were red and puffy, and he suddenly looked about 20 years older than he was. With much choking and a few sobs, he told Sarah that her parents had gone through an intersection. The green light was theirs, but a drunken high school kid had plowed right through the intersection, and T-boned the car on her mother's side.

Her father was slightly injured, but her mother was dead. The only blessing, according to the ENT, was that it was instantaneous, and she did not suffer. Sarah never got over this. She missed her mother so much. And she was furious with her father for the accident. Even though it had not been his fault at all, in her mind, it somehow was.

Watching Sarah struggle with this broke her grandfather's heart. He tried to spend time with her, tried to share happy memories of her mother, but Sarah seemed like this numb little thing.

He said to her once, "Horrible things do happen. Happiness, in the face of all of that, that's not the goal. Feeling horrible, and knowing that you're not gonna die from those feelings, that's the point." She knew these were wise words. She wrote them down and kept the piece of paper in her desk, for a time when she could bear to think about it later.

Robert Williams was devastated at the loss of his beautiful, vivacious wife. He missed her terribly. So he dated and married another woman as quickly as possible - less than a year after Maureen had died.

While Karen was kind hearted, she where is nowhere near as beautiful as her mother and never stopped talking. This was something that drove Sarah absolutely over the edge. And then Toby was born. It seemed as though, to her anyway, that he was some perfect little child. A happy, good replacement for Sarah.

Since that time, Sarah had thrown herself into an imaginary world. A world of castles and princesses, a world of brave nights who would rescue her. A world of wizards and evil kings who wanted to hurt her. She read books, acted out plays, drew pictures, and watched movies.

After seven years of this, and seven years of resenting her father, she had begun acting out her plays in the park, where no one could see her.

When Toby came, she was conflicted. On the one hand, she resented the nights that she had to watch him. Truth be told, however, it did not happen that often. But Toby drooled, and she hated changing diapers, and he was just sort of a blob in cute pajamas. Not much of a personality yet. And his crying set her teeth on edge. Especially when she was unable to jolly him out of it. She couldn't wait until he could actually speak.

Her personality had changed, but she worked with it by becoming wry, sarcastic, and funny. While her friends got a kick out of it, Robert was increasingly worried about her. She wanted nothing to do with him, and he loved her so much. Every attempt he made to talk to her, to cheer her up, she rebuffed. She made him miserable. He wanted his old Sarah back.

After the Labyrinth, and the personality changes that came along with that, she still enjoyed her studies. As long as they were solitary. None of this "turn around and talk to the person behind you about what you just read" kind of bullshit. She listened to the lectures, she took her AP courses, did her reading and homework, and made that the main part of her life. School, when she was left to her own devices, was one of the few things that she still enjoyed and excelled in.

She had her violin, too. Her mother's violin, a priceless Antonius Stradivarius Cremonenti violin. She had always been extremely good, and now began to excel at an incredible rate. Her tutor wanted her to sign up for concerts and contests, but there was no way that Sarah could countenance that. She finally agreed to play a few solo concerts at the Conservatory, where her mother used to play. Sarah figured that her mother would like that and that this would make everyone happy.

While her tutor assigned her classical pieces, on her own time Sarah preferred the old Irish music that her mother had played for her. It was so haunting, so sad, most of it. She still missed her mother so much, and this would help for a while. There were certainly happier, jiggy pieces, but Sarah had no interest in that. She wanted melancholy, like she felt. She wanted misery and sadness. Pieces they all loved but that her granddad called "Drunkenness, Drama and Death" songs. She remembered a quote of her mother's, from one of their favorite authors and playwrights W.B. Yeats, and it went:

"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through periods of joy."

They both absolutely loved it because it reminded them of her cantankerous Irish grandad. It was so funny. But right now nothing was funny. She didn't understand this. She wasn't trying to be so miserable and moody, but she was. It wasn't fair. Somewhere in her mind she thought she heard Jareth's voice. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is?" She smiled wryly. Memories of him could either set off loss and longing and tears, or a smile. This time, his voice lifted her up, and her afternoon brightened some.

That afternoon she was tuning her violin getting ready to play - she never called it practice, because to her the word practice implied that something wasn't fun. There was a knock on the door and Karen's overly cheery face peered around it. "Sarah, honey, you've got a friend here to see you."

She hadn't asked anyone over. Who could it be? The door burst open and a boy her age raced across the room and threw himself on her bed. Making himself comfortable, leaning his head on one hand, he grinned at Sarah and said, "Whatcha doing?" Karen pointed at him behind his back and mouthed the words "He's cute," before shutting the door. Sarah just rolled her eyes.

It was Patrick. Her funniest and probably her least annoying friend. "Fine" she thought to herself "He can stay." "Whyyyyyy are you even heeeere?" She pretended to whine as she stomped her foot. She allowed one of her few true smiles towards him.

He rolled onto his back clutching his heart. "You know Sarah, you wound me. You truly do. This is the kind of greeting I get for going out of my way to see you."

She was going to respond with some kind of smart aleck response about her not asking him to come, but then remembered what a good friend he truly was, and decided not to. "I'm going to be playing my violin for a while," She said. "Feel free to stay and listen if you like."

He winked at her and sat up. She picked up her violin, resting her chin on the chin rest after placing the violin on her shoulder near her collarbone. Drawing her bow across the strings a few times she began to warm up. When Patrick had the nerve to make a face, she deliberately drew the bow across the strings in such a way that the violin literally screeched.

"Oh my fucking God!" He cried, covering both his ears.

She narrowed her eyes at him and jabbed at the air toward him with her bow. "You there! In the cheap seats! I don't want to hear a sound out of you!"

He contritely agreed and she continued. She was going to play one of her sad Irish songs at first, she was thinking _Grace_ or _She Moved Through the Fair,_ but she thought that this might be a good time to play a piece she had been putting together herself by memory. It was always hiding, back in her thoughts. Sometimes she could remember it, sometime she could not. It was so elusive, dreamlike. She was relatively certain she knew where she'd heard it before, but like everything else from then, couldn't be certain. She quietly sang to herself to keep up with the unfamiliar waltz count. Three-quarter time then four quarter time.

"There's such a sad love

Deep in your eyes A kind of pale jewel

Open and closed Within your eyes

I'll place the sky

Within your eyes"

Patrick stared at her with his mouth open. He had never heard this before, anywhere. What a beautiful song. She continued,

"There's such a fooled heart

Beatin' so fast

In search of new dreams

A love that will last

Within your heart

I'll place the moon

Within your heart"

As she often did, she began to sway with her music. Not dancing, really, just fully allowing herself to get into the moment.

"As the pain sweeps through,

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all,

But I'll be there for you

As the world falls down"

"Falling

Falling down

Falling in love"

"I'll paint you mornings of gold

I'll spin you Valentine evenings

Though we're strangers 'til now,

We're choosing the path

Between the stars

I'll leave my love

Between the stars"

"As the pain sweeps through,

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all,

But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the…"

For the most part, she played with her eyes closed. But she glanced up for a moment to see how Patrick was doing. She was startled to see that he was standing right in front of her, a look of bewilderment and concern on his face. Gently, he took her violin away in his right hand and her bow in his left hand. She hadn't realized she had been crying. He was using his shirttail to dry off the chin rest on the violin. "Sarah?" he asked, "Did you write this? I've never heard you play like that before. It was as if you weren't even aware of what you were doing. That's why I stopped you. And I could hear you singing. And now you're crying. What's going on?" They both sat down side-by-side on her bed, Patrick carefully setting the violin on the dressing table.

Sarah took in one of those shuddering breaths a person does after they've been crying. She wiped her eyes with her fingers as quickly as she could, and bit her bottom lip, something her friends all knew was a sort of Sarah move, when she was trying to decide what to say next.

"Oh God," she whispered. "I don't know. Patrick, I swear I don't know. No, I did not write that song. No, I don't know who did. It's been in my head for a while now, and finally I had to learn to play it by ear because otherwise it would've driven me crazy. I had to get it out, you know?"

Not being able to play an instrument, Patrick did not know. What he did know was that his friend was incredibly sad and falling apart. She didn't seem to care about all of the people she was driving out of her life. And nothing had happened that he was aware of! She herself didn't seem to know. That's why he was here this afternoon, out of concern for his friend. Sarah had pushed quite a few people away, but she wasn't going to do that to him. He figured that she needed as many friends as possible right now, actually. This song was beautiful, and he knew he hadn't even let her finish it, but it was also otherworldly, and somehow filled him with a sad longing for something that he could never have.

"Patrick, I love you, but you need to go. I just need some sleep." She stood up and hugged him, hard. "You're the best friend I could have." He hugged her back fiercely.

"I'm always gonna be here for you Sare-bear," he said.

"I know." She sighed. "Love you."

"Sare?" He asked as she was turning around to put the precious violin back in its case.

"Mmmhm?" Still sniffling.

"It seems to me, and I am always right about these things, that this has guy problems written all over it."

She whirled around to face him. She never told anyone…

"Don't let what he wants eclipse what you need. He's probably very dreamy, but he's not the sun. You are."

In owl form, Jareth had watched Sarah playing his song to her friend. He was conflicted. Thrilled that she remembered it, thrilled that she remembered him, but heartbroken for her in her current state. He was doing the right thing, he reminded himself - to let her know what he knew would be far more harmful than good at this point.

But he would help her in other ways. Whatever that meant. Listening to his song being played by her gifted fingers just made his heart bloom. How long has she been working on that? And even though she wasn't able to finish, she remembered every word of the song that he had sung to her in the Peach Dream. He was glad that she had Patrick. He was a good man, or guy, he thought they called young men these days. Intelligent, sensitive, funny. He was somewhat jealous that Patrick was the one who was able to comfort her, hug her, and to be her friend. But he realized that Patrick was just that – a friend, nothing more. Patrick had some demons of his own right now that Sarah was not aware of.. So, both he and Sarah could help each other out a bit. Jareth kept a lookout over his girl while she slept.


	3. She's Leaving Home

"Why does it feel so good to get rid of things? To unload? To let go? Maybe because when we see how little we actually need to survive, it makes us realize how powerful we actually are. To strip down to only what we need. To hang on to only what we can't do without. Not just to survive, but to thrive." - Sarah Williams

Sarah had just about packed everything she needed before she left. She had thrown or given a lot away, anxious for a new start out in sunny California. It seemed to her that Connecticut was nothing but sadness and dark and snow, and she never wanted to see it again. There was a soft knock at the door and her father looked in. "Hey honey, how's it going? Can I help pack in any way?"

"No dad." She said coolly. "I'm pretty much ready to go if you want to help me take those boxes down to the car - that would be great." She herself picked up a large box and walked past him to the stairway. He tried to reach an arm around her and pat her on the shoulder and she shrugged him off. She didn't know that if she had turned around she would have seen his defeated face.

She had removed all of her posters, rolled them up and thrown them away. She had given Toby pretty much everything that she had that reminded her of her time in the Underground. The one thing or two things that she kept were the white feather and the Labyrinth book. She had kept the feather safely in the book and packed it along with everything else.

She had been able to get through high school one semester early. This was just as well, because Sarah could not bear to be there. The depression was the black dog that kept following her no matter how she would try to get away from it.

She would have good days which would turn into horrible afternoons. She would have days that were fairly normal. She would have days when regret and sadness just took over and she cried, literally all day.

Her father would sit on the end of the bed, silently, just trying to be there for her and help her. She wanted nothing to do with him. He knew this, that his oldest child and only girl needed him, but he did not know how to be that person. He felt useless. But he loved her, and did the best he could. So right now, he was just sitting on the bed.

Crying days, the yearning days, were becoming worse over time. She began to doubt her own sanity. Was her experience real? Was it a dream? What was this longing in her heart? True, she had had a vivid imagination. But it had all seemed so real. She remembered every detail.

And while she missed her three friends so very much, she found herself thinking of Jareth constantly. Trying to figure him out. There was mean and scary Jereth and there was sweet and beseeching Jareth. Why wouldn't he come? He said he loved her! Could it be that he just didn't care?

The only thing that got her through all of this, were thoughts of Stanford. It was a gorgeous campus, in a cute little town in California. Wonderful weather, and a new start.

Maybe these crying jags, these dark black days, would go away…Finally. The car drive out was going to be miserable, but she was prepared. She had books and magazines, and she planned to read the entire time so she wouldn't have to speak to her father.

She had put her foot down on allowing Karen and Toby to come. She knew that Toby would get bored and carsick, and that Karen would chatter incessantly about everything, and she would probably blow up. For the past several years, her family had walked on eggshells around her.

As they hit the road, and drove out of the small town that Sarah had grown up in, she began to feel some of the tension falling off of her. She was leaving behind Karen. Good. She was leaving behind the house, with too many memories. Good. She was leaving behind her bedroom. Great. She would be leaving behind her father soon. Good. She would be leaving behind Toby. That one broke her heart. She never wanted to come back here, but she might change her mind, just to visit Toby.

She stared out the window, feeling lighter and lighter the further she got from home. She said less than 10 words to her father before they got to California.

California was warm and sunny. Stanford was beautiful. All of that sun, and warmth, and independence, did her so much good. She was there for two whole weeks, and then suddenly, the black dog was back.

It crept in, gradually. It started with a music box she had seen in a gift shop in Palo Alto. She wanted to get something nice for Toby for his upcoming birthday. Someone in the shop wound up this little glass music box and it began playing. It wasn't, of course, the song from the Peach Dream. But the beginning six or seven notes were exactly the same. That one took her breath away, but she was firm with herself and decided it It wasn't going to bother her.

Then, classes started, and one of her professors was from England. He had, of course, a British accent. But not just any British accent. This one was clipped, sounded like London. She could've sworn if she closed her eyes, that this was Jareth. Oh, God. And she was going to have to listen to this for an entire semester.

The proverbial straw that broke her back was something small and inconsequential. She had been sitting on a bench on campus, reviewing her notes for an upcoming exam. Suddenly she looked down, and saw a small peach lying in the grass. Just sitting there. Like it was a part of someone's lunch that they had decided to discard.

If any of these things had happened separately, and not on top of one another, it might not have happened. But it did. Suddenly she felt her mind go dark. She felt the downward spiral. She felt tears suddenly spring to her eyes, and felt a huge rock in the back of her throat. Not again.

And emotionally, that was mostly how things went for the next several years. She was able to push through because of her studies. She threw herself into her classwork and violin practice. She dated. She went to parties reluctantly, that her roommate had dragged her to.

On weekends, she would sometimes head to Monterey or Carmel by herself. Occasionally, her roommate would organize a large group of friends to head up to Wine Country for the weekend, or skiing at Tahoe. Sarah went, and had fun, mostly. Everything looked normal on the outside.

It was only being alone, though, when Sarah could relax. Then she didn't have to put on her happy face and pretend that everything was OK, when something in her head was screaming that it wasn't.


	4. Five Years

"The problem is, fairytales don't come true. It's the nightmares that always seem to become the reality." - Sarah Williams

Monday morning, after her first class, Sarah had about two hours to wait until her next one. She figured she'd go to one of the libraries, and if she couldn't get anything done, then at least it would be quiet and relatively private.

She sat down at one of the long tables which was empty. Opening up a notebook and taking out the most recent book she was supposed to be reading, she began to try to take notes.

It was not going to happen. The black dog of overwhelming sorrow, anger and despondency that kept getting worse by the day was creeping up behind her and overwhelming her mind today. Not today. Too much to do. She felt her eyes start to burn as they threatened tears.

Oh no. Resting her elbows on the table she put her hands to her temples as if coping with a headache. It didn't stop the crying. Tears slowly crept out of her eyes, slid down her cheeks and she could hear them as they hit the paper of the notebook. She hoped nobody was watching. She let her dark curtain of hair fall around her face so that almost no one could see it. The library was pretty quiet at this time of morning. At least she wasn't shaking this time.

High up on one of the window ledges, Jareth perched in his owl form. The woodwork was large and elaborate enough so that he could slide back and was relatively certain that he wouldn't be seen. But he could see Sarah. And his heart twisted. He was miserable, was miserable now, and probably always would be. But at least he knew why. Sarah had no idea why these emotions were taking over. And the way they were taking over, they were going to destroy her. Jareth knew he had to act now.

Softly, he floated down in owl form. By the time his feet touched the ground, he looked just like any human man. Wingtip shoes, gray trousers and a blue button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up and the tails untucked. He had about a day's worth of scruff on his face instead of make up and was wearing a very fashionable pair of tortoiseshell glasses . His hair was shorter than usual when he was in this form. Long enough so he could run his fingers through it, (a nervous tic) but nowhere near as attention getting as his Underground look. He could have been a grad student in his late 20s, 30s, or possibly even a college professor. He headed toward Sarah's table.

Standing across from her, he was engulfed with waves of tenderness and concern. This was all his fault.

"Hello."

She didn't even look up so he couldn't see her face. "Hey," she said.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

She thought she heard the stranger had a clipped English accent, but she couldn't be sure. Maybe it was Australian or something. South African maybe. She didn't care.

"Fine", she sniffed. He tilted his head to the side to get a better look at her face and shook his head slightly. She was looking increasingly gaunt, and the circles under her eyes were getting worse. He sat down across from her.

"Sarah, may we talk?"

At hearing the stranger say her name, her head jerked up. Staring straight into his face, regardless of how awful and red her eyes must look, she tried to remember where she had seen this man before. Her eyes narrowed as she looked for something familiar. Suddenly they opened wide, and there was a sharp intake of breath. He continued to look at her levelly and with a touch of concern.

"It's - it's YOU!" She had no idea how to feel at this point. On the one hand, he seemed to be the same person, albeit dressed more normally. On the other, where the hell had he been for the past five years? If he cared for her as much as he had said he did, why was he only showing up NOW? All those years of depression and self-doubt. All those years of unhappiness, and questioning the reality of her life. What was this?

She could not decide if she were more furious or frightened. She begin violently shaking her head back-and-forth NO.

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

She stood up so quickly that the chair threatened to topple over. Leaving her books, bag, and notebook, she ran out of the library.

She moved so quickly there was nothing Jareth could do. Because of the noise she had made, the few other students in the library were looking curiously at him. He sheepishly grinned and held up his hands, as if to say "I don't understand that, either." Quickly he stuffed Sarah's belongings into her bag and hurried out the door after her.

She made it only as far as the benches surrounding the fountain at the front of the library. She had wanted to run all the way down the street to her car, but it was as if her knees were buckling. She slumped onto one of the benches and covered her face again. All this time. All this time! Had he been the one she had been catching glimpses of since she had returned from the Labyrinth? Had he been the owl that mysteriously seemed to follow her? And why? Why leave her to suffer and think she was crazy if he really was supposed to care for her? She was overwhelmed with uncontrolled sobs as she tried to curl up into a ball.

Jareth ran out the front doors of the library looking both ways to find her. He was carrying her bag and he saw her huddled up in a little pathetic heap on one of the cement benches surrounding the library fountain. Her body was shaking with silent sobs.

"Sarah," he paused.

"Sarah, my precious girl."

She just continued crying, seemingly unable to hear him. Setting her bag on the ground, he gently sat down next to her and laid a hand on her back. When she didn't object, he softly stroked her back just a little, almost like one would calm a frightened animal. Which was exactly what she seemed like right now. "Try to take deeper, slower breaths."

"Don't tell me to breathe. I'll breathe when I want to breathe!" Suddenly she stiffened and whirled around to face him.

"Don't touch me!" Her face was a mess. Red, eyes swollen, mascara running down her cheeks.

He had whipped his hand away and was now holding both of them in his lap contritely. He was also looking down.

"Please don't run away," he said quietly.

Even with all of the damage that this crying jag had done to her face, Jareth could still not get over how beautiful she was. She still took his breath away. And the fact that he was sitting next to her now, actually speaking to her after so, so long, was unbelievable. His heart was racing.

"Sarah, you have no idea how much I have missed you. You have no idea how worried I've been for you, and how much I had hoped you'd be happy. But - "

"But I haven't been, have I?" Interrupting him, her voice building to a scream.

"How? How? How did this all happen? Was it a dream, did you drug me? Do you have any earthly idea what this entire experience has done to me? On the one hand, I suppose, it was helpful in that I learned that I was stronger and more assertive than I had thought. But on the other hand, I was left with no _proof_ that anything had actually happened."

"I used to miss you when I was a kid. I used to look for you, try to make excuses for you. And then over time, I realized you weren't ever going to come. After everything you said down there – couldn't you understand that I had to get Toby home? Couldn't you understand that I didn't want to leave? And you just gave up on me like that. I am a train wreck. Nobody came to see me, least of all YOU. I've been thinking I was mentally ill this entire time! And I couldn't tell _anyone_ about this! I was sure they would lock me up! Or put me on a series of drugs that would turn me into a mindless idiot!"

He had tried to hand her a very nice handkerchief. Did anyone even use those anymore? She swatted him away. People walking by were beginning to notice the screaming girl and her seemingly hapless boyfriend.

Jareth looked around both ways and leaned into Sarah, saying quietly, "Could we please go somewhere? I have so much to tell you. I have so much forgiveness to ask for. But it will all make sense, if you only give me the chance. Just one hour and a cup of tea, I promise. I will answer any questions that you ask. Then if you like, I shall leave you alone forever."

His heart ached as he bit his bottom lip. So much to atone for. All this time he believed that he was doing the right thing. That even though Sarah seemed unhappy, she was less so because of what he was trying to do. His trying to give her options had been a disaster. He felt as though he had ruined her life. He fully expected her to bash him over the head with her school bag and run away, and he couldn't blame her.

Sarah had stopped crying and her breathing and heart rate were beginning to slow down. She had also become suddenly aware of the fact that she was creating a scene, and that even though she was almost as upset as she had ever been, it was unacceptable. That was not how was she had been raised. She could feel the warmth of him at her side. She caught a whiff of vetiver and something else – leather maybe.

The olfactory sense is more powerfully connected to memory than any of the five senses. While Sarah could recall Jareth's face, and his voice, it was this scent that she recalled the most, without even realizing it. It seemed to be calming her down. And looking into his beautiful blue eyes, and remembering the difference in pupil size between them, which she found endearing, she could feel her anger begin to retreat and begin to turn into something else. Longing. She had been longing for so many years. Even when she was still a child, and she knew that he was too old for her, she longed for him. And even though he was a complete shit for abandoning her, she definitely wanted to hear what he had to say.


	5. Makes No Sense at All

"If you love someone, you tell them. Even if you're scared that it's not the right thing. Even if you're scared that it will cause problems. Even if you're scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud and you go from there." – Jareth

Jareth did not try to touch her in any way as they walked to the nearest small coffee shop. He walked next to her, and not in front of her, she noticed. He seemed somehow softer, more caring, than she remembered from her time in the Labyrinth. But she still was not going to let him see that he had gotten to her. Although he probably already knew. Damn! He opened the door for her, and they walked up to the counter together.

Jareth was holding a wallet and looking expectantly at Sarah. "Oh, you can go first. I just need a sec." she said.

"Good morning," and he bent his head slightly sideways to read the girl's name tag."Nicole", he said. "May I please have a cup of Earl Grey tea?"

The girl was still in college, younger than Sarah, but the fact that Jareth had bothered to find out her name and was so handsome set her heart fluttering and she blushed.

"Um, hot or iced?"

"Hot, please."

"Lemon, cream and sugar are in the back. Just so you know."

Jareth shuddered. Lemon, cream in one's tea? And in an Earl Grey, no less! What an abomination! Why can't one just order a cup of tea up here?

"Miss?" she looked at Sarah. The girl seemed like she had been upset. Puffy eyes, some tears still on her face and streaked mascara. Nicole did not understand how this could be the case with a man like that standing next to her, but…

Seeing that Jareth had his wallet out, Sarah figured this must be his treat. Normally, she'd get a latte or a cold brew. Today, however,

"I'd like a Double Ristretto Half-Soy Nonfat Decaf Organic Chocolate Brownie Iced Vanilla Double-Shot Gingerbread Frappuccino Extra Hot With Foam Whipped Cream Upside Down Double Blended, one Stevia and one Sugar-in-the-Raw and make it just 4 ice cubes. Not three, 4."

She stepped back and smiled innocently at Jareth. His mouth was open. He looked at her, he looked at the horrified coffee girl, he looked at the menu. Then he looked back at Sarah. "I don't even know what most of those things are," he said. She smiled sweetly and walked past him to the nearest table.

Sarah sat down at the table closest to the window, and looked out. Chin in hand, she began to doubt this decision. What the hell was she doing? This man had single-handedly caused her to lose her mind, she felt. He had broken her heart, when she was really even too young to have a broken heart. And she could not forget him, much as she tried. So why was he here now? Caught between sadness, anger, and curiosity, she sighed.

Jareth joined her at the table, holding two ceramic mugs. He hated Styrofoam - what a ridiculous idea! He liked that California had a much more "earth friendly" lifestyle, like the one Underground. His people were more committed to the health of their earth.

He looked at her confection of a drink with all of the foam and only the gods knew what else. Why would somebody want to _drink_ that?

Sarah sipped from her mug only once. She gagged a little, which she tried to hide. Jareth noticed this, and grinned inwardly. So that's what this was. A revenge drink! It had cost him, not that he cared, over $15. His Sarah. As upset as she was, she had found a passive-aggressive and hilarious way to punish him, just a little bit.

She leaned back in her chair, arms across her chest. She glared at him. He had heard Hognose call that look the "stink eye."

Suddenly, the nervousness and angst were back. He had one hour in which to explain himself and his actions. One hour in which to explain his genetic background and that of his family. One hour to explain over 4000 years of history. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

Taking a deep breath, he looked directly into her eyes. Honesty was the only way to go here. As incredible as it was, at least it would be, to Sarah, he had to.

"Sarah, I know that you must have so many questions. I know that you probably hate me. I cannot tell you how much I regret the pain that I have caused you. Believe it or not, that was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I didn't plan on things going this way. But now I can see that you need answers. You deserve answers. I believe you will be healthier, and happIer after you know these things." And hopefully, in his mind, she would make the decision that he had been longing for.

Wordlessly, she continued to glare at him.

He continued. "Sarah, you may wonder what exactly the Underground is. Why I am the King of the Labyrinth and why I put you through the experiences that I did. Doubtless you also wonder why I never came when you called, even though it pained me greatly, and why I never allowed Ludo, Hognose, or Sir Didymus to visit you, although they had promised to."

Again, silence and a glare.

"At first I had every intention of telling you why things happened as they did. I sat in my therianthropic form outside your window for 13 nights."

She remembered this. It was one of the things that had made her hopeful not only that her experience had been real, but that she might be able to talk to Jareth about it.

But Therianthropic. Not a term she had heard before, but she figured that it must've been his owl shape.

"So you're a shapeshifter," she said, not as a question but as a statement. It came out snappier than was meant.

Jareth recoiled, as though the expression were extremely distasteful. The Fomorians had shapeshifters, but those creatures were evil and dark. With dark intentions. Not at all like Jareth's people.

"No." He said clearly. "My therianthropic form is an owl. Nothing more. My people are born with this ability. It happens at puberty; it is not known what one's form will be until then. Generally it can have something to do with one's temperament, although at times it can have something to do with one's mission in life, or beliefs."

He looked at Sarah. Her lips were pressed together in a straight line, arms still crossed.

"My people have existed as humans know them for over 4000 years, although we existed in a somewhat different form before that. We lived Aboveground for almost 2000 of those years."

"Where?"

He wasn't sure what exactly she had meant. He raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at her.

"I said where?" she snapped. Oops. Again.

"Éire Ghaelach." he replied, in a language that she had never heard before.

"Is there an English version of that?" Her thick dark brows were knitted. She could speak several languages, but this was not one of them, obviously.

"Gaelic Ireland," he replied.

"You mean Ireland", she corrected.

"I mean Gaelic Ireland. Ireland when it was ancient, before the Milesians, before the Celts, before the Christians. Ireland has been overrun at least six different times by six different groups." He explained.

As if trying to recall something, Sarah's eyes slid to the left and she tilted her head. She had heard some stories from her granddad as a child. Some of those myths and stories sounded something like what Jareth was saying.

"Go on", she said. She was beginning to become more curious.

"My people are of the Tuatha Dé." He explained. That is our original name and that is the name that we continue to call ourselves, even though it has been changed slightly by others.

"Are you a goblin yourself?" She asked. She really wanted to know.

He was highly offended. "Absolutely not! I come from a line that includes gods and goddesses!" Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So you're a god, then?" She knew that he was magical, she knew that he could be terrifying, she knew that he had abilities that clearly no human man had.

"No. No, I am not,"he replied. "Though my ancestors were. I have some of those abilities, but I am in no way a god. Immortal, yes. But not a god."

He glanced up at the clock. Half an hour left. Funny how part of their relationship seemed based on deadlines.

"The most relevant thing to help you understand at this point is that I am of the Tuatha de. Like any culture, we have rules, laws, mores, and traditions. Traditions are incredibly important. They are what make a culture a culture, and while outdated traditions ought to be dropped, the others are there for good reason."

By this time Sarah was no longer as upset. Curious, yes. Confused, yes. But she was starting to remember all of her dreams, and she blushed. She was remembering how she had missed him, more and more strongly, and how attracted to Jareth she was. While no longer appearing as the Goblin King, a look that she actually found quite disarming, she could still see Jareth for who he was. He had a habit of running his fingers through his thick blonde hair, and while his hair wasn't as wild as it had been in the Labyrinth, it was still on the longer side and swept attractively off to the left. His eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes. The two pupils of different size, so unusual yet so very fascinating. His high cheekbones and narrow face. His sculpted jaw line. And the feral smile that he had during the infrequent times when he was not being serious, angry, or snide.

Chin still in hand, elbow resting on the table, Sarah found herself thinking these things and watching him as he spoke. His deep, rich voice. He did so much talking with his hands. His fingers were long and slender, graceful, like an artist's. And the vetiver scent – that's what that was! The Vetiver in the Earl Grey tea reminded her. It was starting to come back. No wonder that any of the guys she had dated she didn't hold up. They couldn't hold a candle to this – this Tuath dé king or whatever he was. She wasn't even listening to what he was saying.

Jareth caught her staring at him, and it made him somewhat nervous. Then he noticed that her pupils had become quite dilated. That only happens in a dark place or if one is seeing something that one is extremely attracted to. His heart skipped a beat. His beautiful Sarah. The only one he had ever wanted. The one he had waited for, and dreamt about. The one he had watched and tried to keep safe. His Anam Cara – soulmate.

"Sarah?" Suddenly she closed her eyes and jerked her elbows off the table. Shaking her head a bit in embarrassment as she'd been caught ogling him. This was not how she wanted this conversation to go. So she silently made a movement with her hand that indicated he was to go on.

That feral grin was there. Although once she looked at him again, he did his best to hide it by biting his lower lip for a moment. When he faced her again, his face was neutral.

Taking a deep breath, he began again. "The Tuatha can have soul connections. Some are stronger than others, although we don't know why."

She nodded.

"These connections present themselves when or if one meets his or her Anam Cara – you might call it a soulmate here. The idea is that it is a perfect love – and that eventually they might marry. Anam Caras can only happen between two Tuatha or someone of Tuatha descent."

"An Anam Cara connection is extremely rare and extremely powerful. It can affect the two individuals involved in ways that are still not understood. Oftentimes, it is so intense that those two people, if they are unable to be together or something happens to the other, become depressed, then severely damaged, and are never able to commit to a relationship with another. If they are unable to build a life with their soulmate, they generally remain single for the rest of their immortal lives. You can imagine what this might do to someone mentally and emotionally." Here he gave her a long, meaningful look.

"It doesn't happen frequently, but two soulmates that are kept apart can not only become extremely ill but can perhaps even die." He slipped his tea.

"As I mentioned earlier, there can be people who are part Tuath, but mostly human. Most humans with Tuatha backgrounds are not even aware of this ancient aspect of their ancestry. We call them descendants. They live Aboveground and they are not immortal, and while some of them might have extraordinary talents in some areas, they appear quite human."

"Occasionally among descendants there is something we call an outlier. This is a human of strength, intelligence, talents or powers that far outweigh those of another human or a Tuatha descendent."

"There have been some incredible outlier descendants in your world. Artists, writers, scientists, musicians, cultural leaders. Some of them eventually discovered what they were and some never did. Some were so overwhelmed by their talents that their mental health was actually affected. Vincent van Gogh would be one example."

He took a sip of tea, and said, "I know this is a lot of information that I am throwing at you right now. Do you need me to stop for a moment?" when she shook her head no, he took another deep breath and continued,

"You, Sarah, are an outlier."

She shook her head at him. "There's nothing special about me."

"Oh, really?" He asked, tipping his head to the side exactly as he had on the first night she had met him when he burst through her window as an owl and then later grew into the Goblin King. Seeing that look, after all these years, just clutched at Sarah's heart. She refused to let on though, and kept her face neutral.

"You have extraordinary intelligence, do you not? How do you think you beat my Labyrinth? Those slight extra powers that I granted you would not have been nearly enough."

She thought. "Well, I guess so. I mean maybe…school wasn't hard and I was able to get into any college I wanted. I had a perfect SAT score." She said somewhat proudly. He nodded.

"And your violin. You might be a professional if you spent more time on it."

She sighed. "I know."

"And when you are more relaxed, you are able to anticipate certain events before they take place, correct? "

He had been nudging her cup of God awful coffee - whatever towards the edge of the table for the past two minutes. He made certain that she hadn't seen it. Now he flicked one finger and before the cup could topple and spill she snatched it with her left hand. Then she held the cup up and stared at it, wide-eyed.

"I am going to say that this sort of thing happens to you somewhat frequently." It was not a question.

"And you speak how many different languages?"

"Five. Latin, French, Italian, Spanish and English." He actually already knew this. He also knew that she had learned them effortlessly and was fluent in all of them.

She still did not believe him, he could tell.

"Sarah, most modern day descendants come from a Celtic background. There are Celts all over the world but these would be people primarily from Ireland…"

She looked at him.

Williams. Not an Irish name. English, she thought. But certainly her mother –

"Your mother's last name was?" He cocked an eyebrow and looked at her.

"Fitzgerald."

He nodded as if to say "see?"

How did he know she was thinking about her mother? Was he doing that creepy Jedi mind trick/Tuath thing? And what did that mean? Did it mean she really was part Tuath? An outlier, even?

This was so much to take in. Bringing up her mother had always touched a nerve. But she had never heard of these immortal beings in Ireland living in the Underground. And she had absolutely no idea how she could be a part of this. Years of convincing herself that the Labyrinth experience had been a dream had convinced her that any sort of magical or illogical beings or worlds were impossible. She didn't even like to read fiction anymore.

"Sarah? Why do you think I let you wish Toby away like that? We never do that for siblings. Why do you think I granted you extra powers? Why do you think I created the ballroom dream? It was not a way to distract you from finding Toby. I was always going to return him to you, whether you conquered the Labyrinth or not. Why do you think I offered you the chance to stay at the kingdom with me?"

His eyes were wide and beseeching. This was not the man she knew from the Labyrinth. He needed so badly for her to believe him and what he was about to say. He suddenly seemed so intense. He seemed so vulnerable. And Sarah felt as if she could look right into his heart. Gently, he laid one hand upon hers.

"Sarah, I love you. I have always loved you. I am unable to either forget you or love anybody else. I didn't want to overwhelm you with this back then. You were far too young and it would not have been appropriate. And while you were at the Labyrinth, I never would have done anything untoward or ungentlemanly. But I was hoping to get a commitment from you to stay. We are Anam Cara. Once you were older, we might have been able to-"

Suddenly, Sarah could not hear him. She could only watch him with wide eyes, feeling her face turn hot. He loved her. It explained so many things. This all just might make sense. And this whole time she might have loved him too. A kind of supernatural, powerful and utterly confusing love. Perhaps it was that soul mate thing? Was this why she could not get over him after the Labyrinth? Was this why she had felt such confusion and longing and sadness in the past 5 years?

Depression, her doctor called it. Her father, earlier on, had no idea what to do with his only daughter. Neither did her ever shrinking circle of friends. No one did. And bit by bit her life had begun to unravel because of this. But now here he was, talking about things like happy endings. She had stopped believing in happy endings years ago. She began to feel out of breath. She was unaware that her eyes had become huge and that she was shaking.

"Oh no," he said. This was too much for her. He had not anticipated this reaction. That tough little shell she had built around herself shortly after the Labyrinth was seemingly beginning to crack. He felt that her anger, distancing and self isolating over the years had been a sort of protective shield for her. And now it was starting to break down. She looked sick.

"Sarah? You don't look well. I'm sorry. I had no intention of –"

"No. No." She whispered. Much as she wanted to, she could not let him get to her again. Not ever. It had hurt too much the last time, and her old friend, anger, who had protected her in the past, burst forth. Internally conflicted, she chose what she thought was self preservation over a maybe love – a fairytale love. She was still shaking, and it infuriated her that this weakness was something that he could actually see.

"How dare you? How dare you mess with my mind, my life, my heart, leave me with no understanding, and then just show up now? I have already built a life. I have had to glue myself back together because of you. I want nothing to do with yours or with you."

She hissed. "Soulmates? You sound like a bad movie. Apparently you don't really believe that I am that intelligent. I am going to walk out that door right now," she said - her voice becoming stronger. She pointed toward the door, grabbing her bag as she did so. "I am going to leave now, and you will _not_ follow me. I never want to see you again."

She was proud of herself for her self control. She had not screamed at him, although she wanted to. She had been assertive and had refused to let something as stupid as some fairytale "love" threaten her mind again. Her knees were unfortunately wobbly but she got up with as much grace as she could and headed to the door.

"Sarah! Please! There was a reason why I kept my distance!" She heard him call out to her. She knew she could not turn around. If she saw his face, his stricken, sad face, her resolve would break down. She walked out the door, letting her long dark hair hang around her face so that no one could really see her cry.

She had parked about a block away on the opposite side of the street. She fumbled around for her keys in her bag, still feeling unable to breathe and with tears in her eyes, making it very difficult to see. She could see her feet as she stumbled down the café step, keeping her head down so no one could see her face. She stepped off the curb into the street, right into the path of an oncoming car.

**Oh, no! What will become of Sarah? We will find out more in the next chapter, which I feel is pretty accurate as this has happened to me. **

**We're getting more into the Irish connection as well. The first one is the term that Jareth uses to describe Ireland as it was several thousand years ago, Éire****Gaelach. It should be pronounced AIR-rah HWAY-luch (that last syllable has a very subtle sound to it. It's almost like you say the word luck deep down in your chest, but softer.)**

**Tuatha dé = TOO-uh-huh Dey**

**I'd like to say something here about two of the Irish songs Sarah brought up in a couple of previous chapters. **

**They are ****Grace**** – a true story about a young couple who become married, knowing that the young man is to be executed the next day. watch?v=uLoHPdKUvqc**

**She also thinks of ****She Moved Through the****Fair**** – a traditional Irish folk song. The narrator sees his lover move away from him through the fair, after telling him that since her family will approve, "it will not be long, love, till our wedding day". She returns as a ghost that night, and repeats the words "it will not be long, love, till our wedding day", intimating her own tragic death (possibly at the hands of her disapproving family), as well as the couple's potential reunion in the afterlife. watch?v=qTa8NA7Ei84**

**See what I mean about sad Irish songs? To quote Sarah, in a future chapter, they can "tear your heart out." I****hope that you are enjoying things so far. I know the first two chapters didn't move very fast, but they had to lay groundwork. Things will start moving more from here. See you tomorrow for more information on Sarah. **

**Slán,**

**Maire **


	6. Accidents Will Happen

"When the ground gives way and your world collapses, maybe you just need to have faith. And trust that you can survive this. Maybe you just need to hold on tight. And no matter what, don't let go." – Jareth

Jareth heard and saw a car barreling down the street towards Sarah long before she did. He called out her name and screamed at her to get out of the way, and she wouldn't or couldn't hear him. The driver didn't even use the brakes until the last moment, and then the car screeched is it slid sideways and right into Sarah. Her body tumbled over the hood of the car and then flew a good 10 feet before rolling to a stop in the opposite lane of traffic. His Sarah!

Putting on the Fae speed that allowed him to reach her almost immediately, but not quickly enough, he knelt over her, covering her with his body as if to protect her.

He wanted so badly to hold her in his arms, but he knew that that could make her injuries worse. He took her pulse and at least, thank the gods, there was one. Wherever there was bare skin on her body, it was scraped and torn. Blood was everywhere. Her left leg was sticking out at a sickening angle, and she had a large gash that went from her left temple all the way down to her cheek. Most of her right forehead was turning purple quickly. He was busy trying to surreptitiously heal this when he heard the ambulance come, quickly followed by a police car and fire truck.

The driver of the car had the decency to stop - although - Jareth gritted his teeth, not the decency to drive at the correct speed or pay attention to where he was going. The two officers were talking to the driver, and behind him he could hear the ENTs pulling a gurney out of the back of the ambulance. One of them laid her hand on his shoulder.

"We've got her now sir. If you can step back we'll get to work helping her." He did not want to leave, but he knew that there was only so much healing that he could do. He nodded silently, stood up and let them carefully attend to her.

Hours later, Jareth was still sitting in a chair at the Stanford Medical Center. Luckily, it was close by. He had given them all of Sarah's information from her wallet at the front desk, and lied, saying that he was her brother. This way, when she was out of surgery, he would be allowed to see her. If she agreed to see him, that is.

It was taking everything he had not to stride into that wing, demanding to see her. As a king, he was not used to being told what to do. Let alone being told to wait while the life of the woman he loved was in jeopardy. When he had gotten to the hospital, his face, hands, and shirt were covered in blood. Once they had determined that the blood was not his, the nurse behind the desk politely suggested that he could wash up down the hallway.

Looking into the mirror, he could see her blood on his lips, from kissing her face, and right cheek. A combination of tears and blood streaked down his face. It was all over his hands. Normally so meticulous about his appearance, he was loathe to wash off the only part of her that he had right now. This blood was hers. It was all he had. And even though he was who he was, and even though he was a king, and an immortal, there was nothing he could do right now. He washed up, but left her blood on his shirt, although he could easily have eliminated it with magic. He was keeping it, it was some sort of talisman.

He didn't care how morbid that sounded. Until he knew her condition, he was leaving it as is. Full of rage, fear and helplessness, Jareth looked into the bathroom mirror, saw the terrified man there, and slammed his fist through the mirror. Glass tinkled to the floor, what was left in the mirror frame was cracked, and his knuckles were bleeding. He looked down at his hand dispassionately. He wiped as much of the blood as he could away with a paper towel.

When he returned to the waiting area, he noticed that the clock in the room was annoyingly loud. Jareth waved a hand at it and silenced it. He had gotten tired of staring at all of the corners of this room. He felt as though he were going to snap. He began pacing, something he often did in his throne room when he was thinking or upset. Over the years he had even worn a small groove in the stone.

A young man, a surgeon, Jareth supposed, although he looked like a teenager, walked up to Jareth and shook his hand.

"Mr. Williams?" Jareth remembered he had told them that he was Sarah's brother.

"Yes," he replied curtly. "How is she?" It was the only thing he wanted to know right now.

The doctor's professional confidence seemed to wither a bit under Jareth's burning gaze, so he looked down at his clipboard.

"Mr. Williams, I'm Dr. Burke. I'm sorry this surgery took so long. It was pretty extensive. She has a major head injury on the right temporal lobe, we were able to give her medication that should bring down the swelling in the brain, hopefully then we will not require brain surgery. We did need to go in and operate because she had extensive internal abdominal injuries as well. We've removed her spleen. And the pancreas sustained fairly serious damage, which we think we were able to repair, but we're going to have to keep an eye on it. Her left leg sustained several fractures, so we've made adjustments, reset it, and casted it. She's going to be on crutches for at least two months. The scratches and cuts on her body were relatively minor and will heal on their own although she does have a few butterfly stitches. Luckily, our plastic surgeon was available and did a beautiful job on that gash that Sarah had sustained on the left side of her face." Jareth finally released his breath.

"So she's alright then?" The young doctor looked uncomfortable.

"I didn't say that. The head injury is substantial. She has yet to regain consciousness. We kept her a little longer after surgery waiting to see if she would come out of the anesthesia, and she still has not. Something tells us that she may be comatose perhaps for a while."

Comatose? Jareth paled. "For how long?" He wondered out loud.

"We are not certain,"said the surgeon. "Sometimes, people with head injuries like this can come out of it the first day. Other times, it can take substantially longer. Worst case scenario, she could go into a persistent vegetative state. I can take you to see her, if you'd like."

He led Jareth through a maze of corridors and into the ICU. Once there, they turned left into a private room where Sarah was lying in a small bed. She looked tiny. She was on oxygen, a breathing tube, with IVs going into both arms. Her left leg was in a cast - elevated by some sort of contraption above the bed. Her beautiful dark hair was spread out against the pillow. Both of her eyes were black and the left side of her face, where the stitches were, was swollen. The bruise on her forehead was hideous. Dark black in places, purple in others, the blood under her skin seemed to be spreading down the side of her face. Her eyes were closed of course, Jareth could hardly believe that she was still actually alive. He knew she was, though, because if she weren't, he would have felt it. Somewhere in his heart, he would have felt It.

A nurse came into the room, quickly checking the equipment that was keeping her alive. Then she pulled the blankets that were covering her higher up to her neck, trying to keep her warm. She looked at Jareth.

"Hon, you can sit down, if you like. Here, we can move this chair so you can sit right next to her."

Sarah looked so precious and fragile, like a broken piece of priceless porcelain. He reached out for her right hand, looking questioningly at the nurse as he did so.

"Of course you can." she said. "In fact, we believe that hearing and touching from loved ones can make a big difference in a patient's brain rehabilitation." She spotted Jareth's mangled hand which was starting to bruise, swell, and drip blood on the floor.

"I am also going to bring in a cart to see to that hand of yours," she said.

As she left she slid the glass door shut. Jareth wrapped both of his hands around Sarah's. They were so cold. He laid his forehead down on her hand and sobbed. He could not lose his Sarah. Not now. He found himself praying to every deity he knew to try to take care of her. Human beings were so fragile. He stayed there for the rest of the night.

The nurses noticed the very good looking older brother of the patient in room 15. He was so devoted! He spoke to her every day. Sometimes, he would read her the sonnets of John Donne. He sat on a chair all night holding her hand with his head on her hand.

Throughout the night, they had to interrupt them for a few minutes, taking blood pressure, checking the fluids that were being pumped into her arms, administering anti-swelling medication for her brain, antibiotics, taking her pulse and checking her stitches.

He didn't move the entire time they were there, unless they needed to see her arm, and then he silently backed away, let them do what they needed to do, and went back to his former position.

Whenever no one was looking, he gently placed his hand over the swelling on her head. His hand glowed with a golden light. He understood this was the most critical injury, so this was the one that he attempted to heal first. Once, one night, when his grief and fear had become unbearable, his wings gently fluttered out and he used the right one to cover his Sarah. It was the closest he could come to hugging her. Suddenly he heard a small voice.

"Jareth?" He lifted his head, looking about the room.

"Sarah?" Her voice was inside his head.

"Sarah!" He cried in his head. "Where are you?"

"Jareth? I'm scared. I don't know what this is. I don't know where I am. Jareth I need help!"

Those words did something to him inside. He had to find her! Somehow, with the coma, her mind was out there, somewhere. He felt certain that it was the Anam Cara connection that allowed them to hear one another. He closed his eyes and focused on trying to see her.

She was in her childhood bedroom, sitting in the dark on the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees. He suspected that she might have gone someplace where she had once felt comfort and safety.

"Sarah," he said. She looked around the room.

"Sarah I'm here." said Jareth. "I would never leave you." Tears were spilling from his eyes and running down his cheeks. She was still here! She was still alive, and she was still cognizant! And he could talk to her!

She looked around the dark room. "Why can't I see you?"

"I don't know, Precious. But we can talk to one another, and I can see you."

"You are sitting on your bed in your childhood bedroom. But that is a superficial image that your brain is sending you. You are really at the Stanford hospital with me. Come back. I can heal you. The doctors can heal you. But you need to do your part and come back here."

Silence.

The damn clock ticked away loudly - three, four, five minutes. Suddenly he saw her hands begin to move, then clench up, and her eyes flew open and she arched her back. Her eyes were wild with pain and fear. Jareth realized that she must be fighting the tube in her throat. He kept hitting the nurse button as many times as he could until someone finally arrived.

"She's awake," he stepped away from the bed, determined to remain as calm as possible. "The tube is hurting her."

"Jareth! I can't breathe! I can't-"

Suddenly, the vase of flowers that her friend Patrick had sent went flying off the dresser and across the room. The nurse screamed, and tried paging additional help. She was having difficulty removing the breathing tube.

"Jareth!" Sarah's voice was shrieking now, "What is in my throat? Why can't I breathe? It hurts so much!"

Another nurse had flown into the room and they were both attempting to remove the tube frantically. A nightstand lamp flew into the window with a terrific smash.

This was Sarah, he was certain of it. He wasn't sure how she was doing this, but in her extreme emotion and panic, she had tied into something that was allowing her to do some kind of telekinesis.

Finally the nurses were able to take out the tube, which to Jareth looked horribly long. Sarah was coughing and the nurses were trying to give her sips of water. They paged Dr. Burke to get there ASAP, and Jareth came back to the bed.

He sat down and took Sarah's hand. She looked at him this time. "You've been here." she croaked. "I could feel that you were here." She was so touched, and so grateful, that her trust issues with him had melted away.

He couldn't say a word. Just smiled at her through his tears and squeezed her hand a bit.

She closed her eyes. "I am so tired. Would you mind?" and she patted the edge of the bed. "I'm just scared. And cold." He nodded and carefully laid down beside her in the small hospital bed, holding her hand to her heart and pulling her toward him, trying to make her feel safe.

**So. Thanks to Jareth and the staff at Stanford (Where I was fortunate to attend – doing the masters now.) Sarah is doing much better than she was. **

**I was in a similar accident, and so was one of my brothers. Two separate accidents, but it was my brother who was in the coma for a week. He's fine now BTW. I had all the surgeries.**

**The part about Jareth wanting to keep Sarah's blood on his clothing is unfortunately based on a true story. A friend of mine lost her 17-year-old daughter, but was able to hold her while she died. She still has her daughter's blood on her coat and refuses to clean it to this day, because, like Jareth says, "It's all she has of her."**


	7. After the Storm

"There's an end to every storm. Once all the trees have been uprooted. Once all the houses have been ripped apart. The wind will hush, the clouds will part, the rain will stop, the sky will clear in an instant. But only then, in those quiet moments after the storm, do we learn who was strong enough to survive it." - Sarah Williams

Sarah dozed on and off for the rest of the evening. Her pain was mostly taken care of with the meds they were giving her. Her leg didn't feel anything, just strange hanging up there.

She was snuggling up next to Jareth. He was so warm, he was still holding her hand and she could hear the heartbeat in his chest. He remained there with her all through the evening.

All through the night, nurses were checking her pulse, checking the machines, looking at her body with the stitches and bandaging and asking if she wanted anything to drink. What she really wanted was to be left alone.

Maybe it was all of the drugs, or the pain, or the trauma, or just the shock of seeing Jareth, but she could feel her anger and resentment toward him begin to melt away. Strange. He had explained some things in the coffee shop, but she knew there was much more. She also knew that she had a part to play in this. She didn't know what it was yet, but she knew she would. She took a deep breath and caught his scent again. Just wonderful. A combination of the vetiver, leather, and just his own personal Jareth scent. She had no doubt that his healing had played a large part in how she felt. And he had helped to guide her back to her own mind when it was damaged. She'd been hearing bits and pieces about her case from the nurses' station and she knew that it was almost impossible for her to feel this way under normal circumstances. Still. Her walls that she built around herself, sure as the walls of the Labyrinth, were strong and could not be climbed over. Protecting herself from that kind of hurt had become a very large part of her life. She nudged him. He smiled, eyes closed, and began very gently playing with her hair with his fingers. The feeling was absolutely heavenly, but she had to get him out of there.

"Jareth, you should go."

He raised himself up on one elbow and gave her his characteristic smirk. "Why?" he drawled lazily. "I'm perfectly comfortable here. In this tiny. Little. Plastic. Bed." He used his hips to sort of bounce the bed around a few times until Sarah laughed. "And I can keep an eye on you then, Sarah," he said. "Besides, I think you owe me for my loyalty and dedication. I've been sitting here for a week. Watching someone named Oprah give away things on TV."

He reached back up with one hand and began playing with her hair again. "You know, you have the most gorgeous hair," he said.

I have been wanting to do this for so long… he thought to himself.

Normally, she would have had a quick retort to that, but the drugs were making her sleepy, the everything had been exhausting, and what he was doing with her hair felt so good.

"Why don't you just let me take care of you through the night?" He asked reasonably. "We're both so cozy here, I can recover from healing you and you can recover from my healing, and then in the morning we will decide what to do."

What am I doing? She asked herself. She chose not to respond to him. It made sense, in a way. Her eyes were closed, she smiled, and just enjoyed his touch throughout the rest of the night.

The last night nurse to check on her found them both asleep. Sleeping with a patient was generally against protocol, but given what this poor girl had been through, and her brother's obvious devotion, being close to her brother seemed to be very important. They _were_ awfully close, however. Strangely close. She had heard the nurses and even some of the doctors talk about Sarah's very attractive brother and his mesmerizing eyes for days now. She couldn't imagine the gossip that must be going on now that Sarah was awake and her "brother" was in her bed.

The next morning Sarah was awakened by a nurse who told her that Dr. Burke would be coming to see her. The nurse looked startled to see Jareth in the small bed with his sister, and made a disapproving face. Sarah smiled, and then discovered that it hurt. Holding her hand to her cheek she whispered to Jareth, "You need to leave now."

Wordlessly he gingerly extracted himself from her bed, walked into the bathroom and she could hear water running. When he came out, he had washed his hands and and his hair had been wet down with water, to eliminate the bed head. He effortlessly ran his hands through his hair and looked adorable. He sat down in a chair, elbows on the armrest, with both hands under his chin.

"Precious," he asked. "Wouldn't it be better if I were here with you to hear what the doctor has to say? That's generally what they do in a real family anyway. This way, I will know how best to help you and how we can proceed." He put on his fake glasses and looked just like a TA or a professor again. He waggled his eyebrows at her. He was unbelievable.

She bit her lip and said, "First of all, I am not your Precious. Secondly, there is so much more we need to talk about, I know that. There is so much that you owe me. I tried to reach you In good faith for five years because I thought I had hurt you. For some reason this whole Labyrinth experience has left me with depression that I think is getting worse. Over time I realized that I had… I had these feelings for you, and I didn't know what to do with them. And these feelings have increased over time for some reason and they're interrupting my life, and – "

"You did." He stated flatly. "Hurt me. I was absolutely destroyed, to be honest. As was the Goblin City and the Escher room."

"Which, by the way, also destroyed much of the castle surrounding it. So, a 16-year-old girl effectively destroyed a good deal of my kingdom and most certainly my heart."

She stared at him. This was all news to her, really. She hadn't thought about the damage to the city, or the castle. None of that even occurred to her. Nor had it ever occurred to her that he still had feelings for her. If he had, why on earth didn't he come to her, talk to her, even? He had gone from being so awful throughout most of her Labyrinth experience, only to offer her his love, her dreams, and then no word from him at all. Her last five years might have been so different. She might've been different. She looked back at the person she was before her Labyrinth run, and the person she was now, and was overcome with sadness. She and he had both hurt each other so much, and it seemed that neither of them had meant to. Hearing him talk about his heart, and his kingdom, took away yet more of the anger she felt toward him.

That was a relief, she could almost feel as if a weight had been lifted off of her. That much resentment was heavy to carry and took up too much space in her heart. The walls were definitely going to stay in place, however, until she knew more. Until she felt that she had some control over the situation.

It had taken the doctor about 30 minutes to explain to Sarah exactly what all of her injuries were, how they had been tended to, and what would happen as they healed. He informed her that she was going to begin therapy work with someone immediately in order to help her relearn to walk. Patients that had been comatose often needed that. At the very least, she would need a crutch for the cast on her right leg.

"But when can I leave?" She asked, plaintively. "I really need to get home, and get back to school."

"You can leave once you're able to walk and feed yourself properly." He said. "But as for school, I honestly don't know how well you're going to do this semester. We often tell many patients that it can take months for the brain to regain proper function. Many of those people do not go back to work for months," he said. "We'll just have to see. I can write medical notes to your professors so you can quit classes without damaging your grade point."

As he was telling her this, Sarah felt herself getting more and more tense and more and more angry. School was all she had right now. That and her violin. Neither of these things were going to be taken away from her just because some idiot didn't know how to drive. She didn't know what she was going to do next.

Jareth listened to everything with carefully schooled features. His Fae mind was able to remember everything, and he felt sure that she would need him in the coming weeks. This could be perfect. He would always have the guilt of putting her in harm's way somehow, with that car. But now, perhaps he could make up for it, and perhaps they could get to know one another better.

He was also paying careful attention to Sarah's body language. He saw her stiffen up, her small hands turn into fists grabbing the sheets and saw the anger and frustration flash in her eyes just as he had seen it at the Labyrinth. He waited until the doctor had left, having handed him a folder full of medical instructions for Sarah to follow. She was scheduled for physical therapy starting tomorrow. When he looked at her, her green eyes were so angry they were nearly black.

"Did you hear that!? If he thinks that I am going to quit school, and quit violin, he's insane! Those are the only two things I have in my life right now." She bit down on her lip again and started looking around the hospital room as if it had solutions to offer her for this current situation.

Swiftly he stood up and went to the bed.

"Sarah, what the doctor said does not necessarily mean that it is what is going to happen. Don't forget that I have been able to heal you enough to bring you out of that coma. We can work on healing you more today, and every day after until you don't need it any longer. You will not have to give up anything. I can carry your books and help you get to your classes, and I will listen to your violin practice if I can be of any assistance there. Your life is not ending, Sarah," he said.

"We can get through this. And in the meantime, perhaps we can help one another heal from the last five years as well."

Was this the same vain, scary guy that had tormented her so badly five years ago? That had ignored her for five years? Why now? Why?

"Why?" She asked out loud. He looked confused for a moment, and she restated her question. "Why are you here? Why are you helping me? Why are you telling me everything you've been telling me?"

He took a step back, crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked down at her. "My, my. You have a lot of questions. And you still have that fierce independent streak. I like that – most of the time. From what I can see, the fact of the matter is, _Sarah_," as he overemphasized her name, "That it seems to me that you have no one to help you. And certainly no one with my healing powers. Do you know how much more quickly we can get you back on your feet? Isn't it worth putting up with me for that?"

She was still fuming. Clenching her teeth, she folded her arms across her chest and stared at the corner.

Jareth began to laugh, and tried to cover his mouth with his hand. He looked at her, doubled up, and laughed a little bit harder. When she glared at him, he tried very hard to straighten out his features.

"What?" She snapped.

He cleared his throat and pointed a finger at her. "You sounded exactly like the spoiled little girl you were when I first met you. Have you learned nothing?"

She looked away, still petulant, and would not meet his eyes. "That's not fair."

It was all Jareth could do not to ask her what her basis for comparison was.

"Running the Labyrinth, the whole experience, changed me, and for the better, I know. I became – " here she paused, "far less selfish, and immature, and self-centered. I believe that I became much more mature. I believe that I learned not to take things for granted. But I also left feeling as if something was undone. And it had to do with you. I didn't know what, but each time I tried to call out to you, or write a note to you, or just look out my window, my heart sank a little bit more. And I've been dealing with this depression ever since. And that gets worse with time, too."

"Oh, Sarah. In all seriousness, I know that. And I know that my actions have hurt you, just as you have hurt me. There is still much I need to tell you, that will explain why I did not respond to you, and why I did not allow your friends to visit you…"

"_That's why they never came. It was because of YOU? _Why? WHY?"

"Love, you maybe want to," he looked over at the nurses station and back again –

"Sarah, you may want to keep it down a little."

"Don't call me that," she said in a quieter voice.

"Sorry. I call a lot of people "love". It's just a term of endearment, or something I use when I'm trying to get a woman to do something I would like her to do. It's the accent, I suppose. That, or my striking good looks…" He grinned at her, showing his slightly pointed teeth.

Sarah chewed on her knuckle while she tried not to smile. He _was_ sort of funny..

That evening, Jareth begin working on helping Sarah heal in earnest. They decided that the head wound was probably the most necessary, so he started with that. Then he worked on her leg through the cast a little while, and by softly running his hand down her face was able to miraculously heal up that scar.

"Right. Can you lift up your gown a bit so that I can work on healing your abdomen?" he asked.

She was in the middle of trying to do so when suddenly she said, "Hey! You were able to work on my leg through the cast! Why couldn't you work on my abdomen through the gown?" She scowled at him.

Damn. She figured him out. Well, it was worth a try.

"Different sort of wound," he shrugged. "But maybe that's enough for this evening. Maybe we should just…"

Sarah sighed. "Fine. But don't think you're going to see anything."

She lifted up the gown just enough to show the injuries. No way was she going to let him try to see her! He laid both hands over her injuries, and his hands begin to glow with that golden light that felt so warm. She could actually feel herself getting better. It was eerie.

Jareth was exhausted. He was not normally a healer, and doing so took a lot out of him. He was sweating and looked pale. Sarah was resting in her bed, and when she saw him looking at her, she made a gesture with her hand that said, come over here.

"You look so tired," she said."Why don't you come and lay down again with me?" Is this a good idea? She asked herself.

He raised his eyebrows and nodded at her. Before long, the two of them were sleeping peacefully, and Jareth gently pulled her toward him while they slept.

In the morning, after a disgusting breakfast of hospital eggs, sausage, oatmeal and juice, she felt terrific. Throughout her time in the hospital, the nurses had been bringing meals to Jareth as well. He was sitting in a chair, poking his spoon into the oatmeal and wrinkling up his nose.

"What the bloody hell is this?" He asked, continuing to jab at the oatmeal.

Sarah grinned at him. "It's oatmeal. Don't tell me you've never had oatmeal."

"Oats…oats… this is what we feed our horses! You know," he said, scooping up a spoonful of the gray sticky stuff. "I'll bet you I can get this to stick on the ceiling." And he catapulted the spoonful of oatmeal right onto the ceiling, where sure enough, it stuck. Sarah squealed with laughter. Enjoying her response, he did it again. And again, it stuck.

Sarah was full out laughing. "OK, let me try." And she too, took a scoop and catapulted it. Her aim was off, however, and it hit the glass wall instead with a thud. This sent them both into a fit of hysterical laughter.

When they were done laughing, Sarah let out a big sigh, and said to Jareth, "I need to get out of here. I just want to be home."

Jareth tilted his head to the side, like he was thinking. "That could be accomplished." he said.

"Really?"

"Absolutely," he said. "Let's get you packed up. They're going to want to keep you longer, so this will need to be an undercover operation.."

Within a few minutes, Jared had packed up Sarah's things into a bag and commandeered a wheelchair. It was all Sarah could do not to laugh as she saw him ducking past the nurses station trying to be invisible with the purloined wheelchair. He wheeled it into the room and turned to her. He tapped his finger on his chin. "How are we going to get you in here?" Sarah had already pulled out the IVs and lifted her broken leg out of the crane contraption. She was now floundering about in the bed trying to get up and out. Jareth rolled his eyes and picked her up as easily as one would pick up a child. She was shocked to be handled this way, although it wasn't altogether unpleasant. He was amazingly strong, even though he was so lean. He gently set her down into the chair and propped up the footrest for her broken leg. Giving her the bag of belongings to sit on her lap, Jareth whispered into her ear "let's go!" As he wheeled her through the doorway, one of the nurses called out to them and started trotting down the hall toward them. "She shouldn't be out of bed yet! It's against doctor's orders!"

Sarah turned around to look behind her, and at that moment Jareth put on his Fae speed. As they raced down corridors Jareth occasionally rode the wheelchair himself, standing on the bar in back. Sarah was hanging onto the armrests for dear life and laughing so hard that her face and her stomach hurt. But she did not care. She loved _this_ Jareth. _He_ was a completely different guy. Why couldn't he have been like this before?

They screeched to a halt in front of the elevators. Sarah punched the button for the ground floor and Jareth carefully pulled her in. It wasn't until the doors were closed that they looked at one another, smiled, and then sighed together. She felt something on the top of her head. Jareth had kissed her there. She put her hand over the spot and looked up at him, "Did you just?"

There was the trace of a smile on his lips, but he refused to meet her eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said.

Once they were on the ground floor, Jareth turned into a small alcove where no one could see them. "Are you ready for this? He asked. "Hold onto me."

He had reached down and put his hands on both of her shoulders. She tentatively wrapped her arms around his waist. Before she knew what was happening, she was engulfed into a swirling gold whirlwind. Within seconds, they were at her front apartment door.

"Was that - wasn't that - ?" Her brain was doing a little whirling of its own.

Jareth looked down at her and smiled. "Transporting," he said. "That's only one of the ways I can get around, you know," he said, giving her a toothy grin.

Sarah looked down at the hallway carpet. There was glitter sprinkled on the floor where they had landed.

"Really?" She looked up at him. "Is that really necessary everywhere you go?"

"One must know how to make an entrance," he said, opening up the front door. Apparently Jareth didn't need to worry about door locks, either, she supposed.

Even though she was standing, and her leg felt incredibly good, he scooped her up like a bride and carried her across the threshold, to the couch in the living room, where he carefully set her down.

"What is that godawful smell?"

He looked around the room. The Fae had better and stronger perceptions and senses than humans, so the smell must have really gotten to him.

"My roommate Alicia must have been burning sage. It purifies the atmosphere."

"I fail to see how that stench could purify anything," he said, nose still wrinkled up.

"Well, we don't have magic. I mean we sort of do, but we have to make it ourselves. With you it's like – pre-installed. And more dramatic," she added.

"Might that also be why you have condiments sprinkled under your windows and doors?" He didn't miss a thing. He reached down and took a pinch of salt between his fingers. "Let me guess, protection?"

"Another time, another conversation," Sarah replied.

Jareth muttered something under his breath about how her salts can't be _that_ protective if _he_ could still get in. He walked over to the nearest arm chair by the couch, and flopped into it with one leg hanging over the armrest.

"This isn't your throne room, you know. You are a guest in my home."

"So it would seem," he mused, looking around the apartment. He still kept his leg on the arm of the chair.

They both looked at each other in silence. Then it became an uncomfortable silence. Then it became a weird uncomfortable silence.

Sarah was the first to break it. "So… where exactly do we go from here? I am feeling much better, I don't know if I'll still need your help getting to school."

"While you're feeling much better, love," he replied, "You actually have a ways to go. I am not a healer by nature, and I can only do so much. But I believed that you would do better in familiar surroundings, which is why I brought you home."

She closed her eyes and sighed. So much had happened in such a short time. Things that she had never imagined had come back and it just blew her mind. She could really use a –

"And may I get the lady a cup of tea?"

How did he know that?

"Get out of my head, please."

"Sorry. I was just trying to anticipate what you might need right now to make you the most comfortable."

"Yes," she nodded.

"Chamomile please. All of the tea is in the cupboard just to the right of the sink. Kettle's on the stove."

But suddenly there was a cup of tea already in front of her on the coffee table. And Jareth was sipping his Earl Grey.

That's right, she noted. Goblin King Powers…

When they had finished their tea, Sarah yawned.

"I'd like to take a nap in bed," she said. "And you don't have to stay this time," she added.

"You've already done so much. And just for the sake of the things we need to discuss, let's leave that for another day, OK?"

He was hoping to spend more time with her. The feelings that he had when they were lying together in her hospital bed were so…unbelievable. He really wanted to stay with her. He wanted to know the grown-up Sarah better.

"I know you do," as if she were reading his mind. Could she have already developed this power?

He saw that her eyes were only half open. He put down his cup and picked her up again, this time carrying her to her bed. He covered her up and asked, "Is there anything that I can get you before I go? You know – a mad makeout session or naked snuggling?" She threw a pillow at him. "How about a naked pillow fight? And then we can paint each others nails, or I can give you some make up tips…"

"That doesn't even deserve an answer. No," she replied, "I'm good. I just need to sleep. Thank you so much for all you've done." And she closed her eyes and snuggled under the covers. Without her knowing, he lightly kissed the top of her head before he left.

The nap she had taken turned into an entire afternoon, evening, and through the night. She had heard that people heal better with sleep. This must've been something like that. While she felt guilty about it, she decided that she would not go to school today. It was still too soon. She limped over to the living room couch and gently let herself down. She would need to get crutches. Or at least one. Maybe school would be an option tomorrow. She hated missing it.

She went through her purse and found her cell. It was just about out of juice, but she opened up her voicemail. Her phone had blown up with calls. From Patrick, to see how she was, from Dr. Burke, who did not sound happy about her leaving, from her roommate Alicia, wondering where the hell she was, from her father, who was vacationing in Sardinia with Karen and Toby, unaware that anything had happened to her. While she supposed that she really should answer, her head was still a little bit fuzzy. she just wasn't up for it right now. Maybe later.

In the meantime, Jareth had swirled into the throne room. His cousin Finbar was supposed to be watching over things while he was gone. Finn was in there with one leg over the arm of the throne, reminiscent of Jareth. Except that he had a large flagon of Goblin Ale. The goblins, it seemed, had taken over the throne room. They were chasing chickens, drinking ale, and being gleefully inebriated and unruly. Feathers were floating around everywhere.

"Cousin!" cried Finbar. "I wondered where you had gone! I was beginning to think that I'd be stuck here – babysitting these rather…unpleasant looking and intellectually challenged creatures. I fail to see how you are able to stand this, day after day." Jareth just looked at him, grimly. He looked closely at Jareth's face. "So, how did it go? Did she fall madly in love with you yet?" He was slurring a little.

Jareth pressed his lips together in a thin line. "No," he muttered. "Not yet. We're going to need more time. She did have a horrible accident while I was there, and while she is fine, thank the gods, I was able to impress her with my healing skills. I'll tell you more later. I'm going to bed right now. You're free to go. From here on in, when I need you to stand in for me, you will not be day drinking. And remember that Goblin Ale has a big kick. You're going to be hurting tomorrow morning."

Finn stood up quickly and called out to Jareth as he walked away from him down the hall, "Ah, um, Cousin! Before you go, I should take care of some things…"

Jareth ignored him and called over his shoulder, "And get those goblins out of here! Send them home!" and continued down the long hallway. When he got to his bedroom door, he opened it and saw an unknown woman in his bed.

Wonderful.

"Get. Out."

The girl seemed terrified; he tended to do that to people, when he wanted to, and when he was angry, which had been very often lately. She grabbed her clothing, and slipped into the bathroom.

He looked at his bed and, snapping his fingers, the bed was remade with a fresh, clean set of new linen sheets. If he had known that Finn was going to do all this, he might never have asked him to take over.

The girl, as she left the bathroom, whispered,

"Forgive me, Highness." to Jareth as she almost ran out of the room.

Sarah spent most of the morning either leaving messages for Patrick, her roommate, her doctor. She was just not up for speaking to any of them right now. She had made it clear that she was fine, the accident was scary, yes, but she was doing great and at home already. She realized that all of these messages and lies had left her emotionally drained.

She laid down on the couch again, covered up with an afghan and was just starting to fall asleep when something slammed into her living room window.

Cranking the old window open, Sarah was surprised at first to see a white barn owl out in the middle of the day, sitting on the tiny window ledge. He shook his head, flapped down to the floor, waddled across it and fluttered up onto the couch. He looked at Sarah very intently. She knew this owl.

This was the owl that had come into Toby's room the night that she had wished him away. This was the owl that had shown up so many times when she was outside. This was the owl that had sat on a branch outside her bedroom window for 13 nights straight after coming home from the Labyrinth. The owl looked up at her and gave her a soft chirp by way of good morning. Barn owls never hooted.

Within less than a second, the owl metamorphosed into a good looking young blonde man. Dressed much the same as yesterday, but in different shades of blue. He had on the glasses that he had been wearing, took them off, spun them around by the earpiece, and looked at them again critically. He tapped the earpiece on his front teeth and said to Sarah, "What do you think? Too much? Or am I as dashing in these as I am without them?"

"I actually like them," Sarah said. "They make you look smarter then you really are."

Jareth smiled at her snark and tried hard not to respond.

"Well," he said, "Let's go - I can take you to school and carry whatever you need me to carry and –"

"I'm not going today," she said. "I figure I can take at least one more day off to recuperate. And I am up-to-date on all of my classes, so…"

"I think that is a wise decision." He said. "Well, is there anything else that we need to do today?"

Sarah said, "Actually yes. I do need some crutches." Jareth snapped his fingers and a set of crutches was leaning against the wall.

"Saves time on shopping," he grinned.

"Oh," said Sarah. "Now I really don't have anything I need to do today."

She looked down at herself. Jareth looked great in his Aboveground clothes and hair, and Sarah was still in her pajamas and ratty but comfortable robe.

"I'm gonna" - she pointed her thumb toward the bathroom "Take a shower and get dressed, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," he said, resting his feet on her coffee table comfortably. She arched an eyebrow at him and he merely smiled.

"Philistine," she shot at him as she left.

"Miss Persnickety," he shot back. He raised his arms above his head in a stretch and brought them back down around the back of his neck just relaxing there, waiting.

About five minutes later, something occurred to him. She had no way to cover her cast to keep it from getting wet! He went into her kitchen and started rifling through cupboards, looking for a large plastic bag. When he found one, he headed to the bathroom, opened the door without knocking, stepped in, and had a gloriously full view of Sarah as she stepped out of the shower.

"Goddamnit! Jareth!" She screamed at him.

He raised his eyebrows, grinned and ducked out of there as quickly as he could, slamming the door behind him. He heard something breakable hit the other side of the door and crash.

Leaning against the closed door, he called out, "I was just trying to help. I thought you might need something to cover your cast, so it wouldn't get wet while you were in the shower. I promise you, that's all it was. I wasn't trying to be perverted or anything…"

"Well, you certainly failed in _that_ endeavor, didn't you?" She yelled. "Didn't you see me take a bag to the bathroom with me? How stupid do you think I am?"

Jareth had been smiling, eyes closed, one hand on his forehead. He had seen her naked! He was not expecting things to go _this_ well so quickly. He ran through his memory as he thought of her. Good gods! Her beautiful curves, which she certainly did not have during her Labyrinth run. She was so unbelievably gorgeous.…he was committing that picture to memory when she yelled at him again.

"Jareth, I swear to you, if you try to pull a stunt like that again….."

"I'm truly sorry, love!" He called back. "Please believe me when I say there was no untoward intent."

He wasn't prepared when she tore the door open, towel wrapped around her, eyes blazing. "Don't you ever do anything like that to me again," she growled. "You just popped into my life, all of a sudden, and all these awful things start happening to me. It is completely unfair!"

He was getting ready to ask her what her basis for comparison was, when she stuck her index finger up into the air, right near his face.

"Don't even _think_ it," she snarled." "I am _so_ not in the mood."

So this was scary Sarah. She frightened even him, a little.

She limped off into her bedroom to get dressed. When she came out, she had her hair up in a messy bun, little make up, and was wearing a long sleeved T-shirt and a longer flowing skirt that allowed movement with the cast.

Jareth was sitting on the couch. He looked like a puppy that had just been swatted with a newspaper. Looking at him like that, Sarah could not suppress a small smile. She had scared the powerful Goblin King!

She sat down on the chair opposite, bending down to slip on the one shoe she had brought. When she straightened up she looked directly at him. "We will never speak of this again," she said.

"Absolutely Prec - Sarah." He corrected himself. "I saw nothing." He was glad that he had a photographic memory.

"So," she said, "What I was thinking is this: we need to get breakfast. I don't know about you, but I'm starving. And, we seriously need more communication. I know what I said back in the coffee shop before the accident, and I may have been jumping the gun a little. It just seems to me that you have a lot of explaining to do."

"I do," he began tentatively. "But I also have some questions for you. We have some very large decisions to make."

Since Sarah's mobility was limited, they headed to a little place only two doors down. She loved Palo Alto. It was such a pretty little town, and it had all of these wonderful little shops and restaurants. They took a table far back, and both of them ordered coffee and croissants straightaway.

Once they were served, Sarah picked up her coffee cup and looked at Jareth over the rim. "So. Where do we begin?"

"With this – what do you remember about where we left off?"

Sarah's brain was still a little fuzzy. "I don't exactly remember." She said. "I think it was you telling me your people were from ancient Ireland, and that you and I were destined to be together - something like that. I think that I also didn't completely believe you, was still very angry and wary of you, and left."

"I'd say that sums it up." He said. "I think one of the most burning questions that you have is why I avoided you for so long, correct?"

"I'd say that that is the number one issue that messed me up," she said, eyes slitted at him.

"Sarah, how old were you when you ran the Labyrinth? When I asked you to love me?"

"I was 16 years old. And you not only asked me to love you, you asked me to fear and obey you. That part," she paused, "Was totally fucked up. And I am pretty sure that no woman, in the history of never, would ever have accepted that request!" He nodded at her.

"It has taken me some time," he said quietly, "to realize that request was completely out of line, and I regret it more than you know. And your age was the reason that I couldn't approach you. I watched over you, you know."

"That, I remember that. That was not enough, Jareth," she said.

"While people from my realm often become promised to one another at that age, I realized that you, being human, were not ready for that. I wanted to protect you, I wanted to respect you. Therefore I stayed away."

"Strange way of respecting me," she snapped. "Ignoring me? For five years?"

"Sarah, believe me, I wanted to. Very, very badly. But I did not trust myself."

"To what?"

Here his voice became very quiet and he looked down at the table. "To be in the same room with you. To look into your eyes, maybe even to touch you. And after what I had said about obeying me and fearing me – it would've been all wrong. You were not ready, I was not ready."

"Did you notice the depression and isolation I was experiencing? Did you notice that it was getting worse with time? Did you even _care_?" Her volume was becoming higher and higher. Suddenly she looked around, and brought it down.

"I had feelings for you too, Jareth, you know. " She hissed.

"Especially during the Peach Dream. Which turned out not to even be real. I wanted to apologize. I just wanted to talk to you, to assure myself that what had happened was real, and you were really out there somewhere."

He ran one hand through his hair, sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I know. I know I wasn't. Like I've said before, please believe me when I tell you that I thought I was protecting you. Not hurting you. And it broke my heart to see you so miserable. I was hoping that you would have a normal period of growing up. While I knew that things were difficult for you, I did not know that it was as bad as it was. I came back into your life at a time that I believed was as soon as I could. I will spend forever making that up to you, if necessary. If you would consider even trying to be friends, If you would accept that."

Sarah thought about this. "Friends?"

He nodded. "Just friends."

She stated almost to herself. "This sounds very complicated. I just don't know…Part of the problem I'm having with this is the horrid way you treated me, in the Labyrinth."

"Sarah, I was being the Goblin King that you wanted me to be, whether you realized it or not. You wanted a hero, but you also wanted a villain. So I _was_ that for you. I turned the world upside down, I moved the stars for you, I manipulated time for you, and I did that _all_ for you. I desperately hoped that you could see through your wishes to the man that I really am."

She looked very closely at him while biting her thumb nail, something she always did when she was nervous or thinking hard. Being friends. For so long she had wanted him in her life, and now here he was. And he was so different from the man in the Labyrinth. She took a deep breath and jumped…

"Okay. Friends it is. Anything else I should know right now?"

"I am not perfect, Sarah. I think you should know this going in. I have a short temper, I've told you I can be cruel," here he looked pointedly at her."I can be controlling and I don't trust people easily. I am sure that there are other flaws, but I am a work in progress. Even knowing you for this brief time however, I do feel that I have been becoming a better man. And that is because of you."

"And I suppose that by watching me, you already know all of my flaws."

"No, I wouldn't say that. I have seen you unhappy, miserable, mistrusting and sometimes intolerant, but that is all to be expected, given what you've been through. You do have a cruel streak too, by the way. I look forward to knowing the real Sarah, at 21 years old, who skipped a grade in high school and entered college as a sophomore. You are incredibly intelligent, and a fine violinist. You also have a good heart, Sarah. I think that is what draws me to you more than anything. The fact that you're beautiful, of course, doesn't hurt…" He grinned.

"Screw beautiful! I'm brilliant! If you want to appease me, compliment my brain!"

She could feel her cheeks burning at the compliment. Damn! She did not want him to see that. She threw a sugar packet at him.

"And friends don't say that to one another, anyway."

He ducked the sugar packet, and said "I think you have this tendency to throw things at me. Luckily, they haven't been dangerous. Remind me not to really anger you."

After brunch they decided to head to a small green space on campus. It wasn't far from the café and Jareth offered to transport her there. She turned him down, and they walked, or rather Sarah, crutched there. They found a bench and sat down.

"So." Jareth said. "It's a fine day."

"Yes," Sarah said, "it is."

Silence.

After almost 2 minutes of agonizing silence, Jareth said, "Your friend Patrick. He seems like a very good friend. I found his name in your phone. When you were in hospital, that is. I didn't see any other numbers of consequence."

"Yes, he's at school back east, so I'm sure that's why he didn't come visit."

"This is a beautiful campus," Jareth said.

"It is." Sarah agreed. "This is the only school I really wanted to attend, from the time I was a kid. I was fortunate enough to be offered academic scholarships at several universities, including this one. So while my father could've afforded it, this way I don't owe him anything."

"I am glad for that," Jareth said. "I believe that you and your father have a less than perfect relationship, yes?"

"I don't think anyone has a perfect relationship with their parents, but mine is worse than most. My mother died in a car accident when I was nine. My father was driving the car, and I've never really forgiven him."

Jareth raised his eyebrows at her and tilted his head slightly. "And has he made any attempt to make reparations?" He asked.

"He did at first, but I rebuffed him. Now I think he just finds it easier to spend time with his new family." She sounded bitter.

"And Toby? My future heir?" He winked at her.

"I adore Toby. He's so much fun to be with, especially now that he can talk and do things. That's another thing the Labyrinth taught me, is how precious our loved ones are. He's in first grade now. Funny thing is, though, Jareth - his eyes started to change once we got back. It took about a week, but his eyes are like yours now. I don't understand how that could _be_. She shook her head. Another thing," here she paused, "Is that he sings some little tune called "Magic Dance". He said he remembers it from you, and he even got your name right. How could that happen when he was only a year old when he met you?"

Jareth looked bewildered. "Sarah, I honestly have no idea. I did not do any magic on him, I took very good care of him while he was with me. The song was just something I made up to stop him from crying."

She nodded. He seemed sincere.

Suddenly Sarah looked at him. "You know what? I haven't cried once since you got here."

Jareth gave a small laugh. "Well, let's hope it stays that way. I have subjects that might feel differently."

"Speaking of subjects," Sarah said, "Can I see my three friends now?"

Jareth nodded yes, looking down at the ground. "I'm not proud that I kept them away from you Sarah." He said, "But I didn't want them telling you anything about me, even if they were sworn to secrecy. I felt certain that they might slip. Especially Hogbreath."

"Hoggle," she laughed. "Do you do that on purpose or can you really not remember? I find it hard to believe that someone with your intelligence would keep forgetting…"

Smiling at her, Jareth replied, "You know, at first, he was very inconsequential to me. It wasn't until you ran the Labyrinth that I had much to do with him, so, I honestly did forget from time to time. Then it became second nature, and because he would get so angry, it became deliberate. I still spend time occasionally thinking up ways to scramble the last part of his name. I think I'm hilarious."

Sarah shook her head no as she laughed. "I think you have a very – overly developed sense of your own importance."

"Of course I do! I am a king. I have subjects to rule, a Labyrinth to take care of, a castle to repair" and here he shot her an accusing glance,"Traitors to bog…I've been brought up for this position since I was born. Nobody wants a weak, uncertain king!"

"Yes, you are very sure of yourself. So - you can see what university I'm going to. Do they have things like that in the Underground - I mean Otherworld?"

"Underground is fine. We have come to use that ourselves. It's inaccurate, as we actually live in a sort of - parallel universe, but so many people have called it the Underground that it has pretty much stuck. "Remind me to tell you about string theory, metaphysics, the eleven dimensions and portals sometime."

"As for University, I lived above ground for roughly 4, 4 ½ years. We don't have universities of that quality in my kingdom yet, but I hope to change that. I went to Cambridge before I became the Goblin King."

Cambridge. She nodded in approval. "And what was your major?"

"The Classics." he said offhandedly. "You know, Latin, Greek, mythology, ancient texts. I was on the rugby and crew teams as well."

"Wow. That's an impressive background."

"As is yours. A major in Sociology, minor in foreign languages, Dean's list…" He said, looking around at the campus.

"Do you have any extracurriculars?" He asked. "Oh, I'm sure that violin is one of them."

"And that's really it." She said. "I like to spend as much time as possible studying, or playing my violin, and just generally keeping to myself."

He flinched a bit. "And I know that was not always the case. Sarah, you had a fairly active social life before you ran the Labyrinth. You were extremely involved in drama and theatre and you let all of that go. You let go of imagination, creativity, and that sense of magic that not everyone has. That was not an entirely healthy decision, you know."

Chewing at her thumbnail, she was prepared to snap at him. However, somewhere inside of her she knew that what he was saying was true. Some people handle grief and misunderstandings better than others. She didn't suppose that self isolation and pushing everyone away was a healthy way of coping. Neither was blaming Jareth for everything wrong in her life. And this was a secret that she seemed to have kept even from herself. And once your secrets are out in the open, you don't have anything to hide behind anymore.

This revelation had been both mind blowing and humbling. She bent over and covered her face.

"Are you okay?" He asked, one hand on her back.

When she straightened up, her eyes were full of tears. "I'm a horrible person." She said. "I am a cruel, self involved, twisty, weak, ridiculous, horrible person." She said and by this time the tears had spilled down her face. She sighed and looked up to the sky, angrily swiping the tears away.

He wanted to take her into his arms but figured that the best action at this point would be to just remain silent and hold space for her.

She turned to face him. "I'm sorry,"she whispered. "I used you as an excuse to fall apart. Just like I used my father. And before I knew it, I was on this downward spiral that I couldn't stop. Blaming you all the time for everything that went wrong in my life. Refusing to admit that I had anything whatsoever to do with this. Playing the victim. I can't believe that you would even be slightly interested in having anything to do with me right now. Hating you is exhausting. And I don't want to do it anymore."

He stood up, knelt in front of her and gently took her face in both of his hands. Looking her closely into the eyes he began to recite a beautiful poem that she recognized as something by Yeats.

"When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face –"

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing you could do that would change how I feel about you. Neither of us is perfect." He said. From somewhere he materialized a beautiful Irish linen handkerchief. "Here," he said, gently pressing it into her hand. "Let's stop beating yourself up and go somewhere wonderful for dinner. But first," he stood up, "We start over." He held out his hand.

Sarah stood up as well and grasped his hand. "Hello," he said, "Lovely to meet you. My name is Jareth." She replied, "Hello. I am Sarah and it's good to meet you."

**The poem that Jareth quoted is titled ****When You Are Old, ****from WB Yeats, one of my favorite poets, and certainly one of Ireland's. I highly suggest you try reading some of his work, if you haven't. Yeats spent most of his life with an unrequited love for Maude Gonne. Much of his poetry is devoted to her.**


	8. I'll Stand by You

"Just when we think we've figured things out, the universe throws us a curve ball. So we have to improvise. We find happiness in unexpected places. We find our way back to the things that matter the most. The universe is funny that way, sometimes it just has a way of making sure we wind up exactly where we belong."- Sarah Williams

After a beautiful dinner at Sarah's favorite seafood restaurant, she and Jareth transported home, where she was so tired that he again carried her to bed. She did not need him to, and wouldn't admit it for the world, but she loved when he did that. She snuggled under the covers, and Jareth spied her old guitar in the corner.

His eyes lit up.

"Is that yours?"

She glanced over to where he had nodded.

"Mmhmm. I don't really play much anymore."

He strolled across the floor, picked it up and sat back down in the chair.

Immediately he begin fiddling with it.

"This is really out of tune."

"Like I said, it's hardly been played in years."

While he continued tightening and tuning the guitar, Sarah sat up in bed. This was becoming interesting.

"I didn't know you could play guitar,"she commented.

"Yes. I started out with one something like this – a 12 string acoustic. Lately when I feel like it however I have a Dual Tone – an electric. I think I still like the acoustics better, though."

"Right. Let's see if I can do this." He began the opening bars of a song that Sarah had never heard before. He played it softly, singing quietly as he kept his head down.

"_Oh, why you look so sad, the tears are in your eyes,_

_Come on and come to me now, and don't be ashamed to cry,_

_Let me see you through, 'cause I've seen the dark side too._

_When the night falls on you, and you don't know what to do,_

_Nothing you confess could make me love you less,_

_I'll stand by you,_

_I'll stand by you, stand by you_

_So if you're mad, get mad, don't hold it all inside,_

_Come on and talk to me now."_

After this line he looked up at her and grinned.

"_Hey there, what you got to hide?_

_I get angry too, well, I'm a lot like you._

_When you're standing at the crossroads,_

_And don't know which path to choose,_

_Let me come along, 'cause even if you're wrong_

_I'll stand by you,_

_I'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you,_

_I'll stand by you._

_Baby, even to your darkest hour, and I'll never desert you,"_

Sarah wrapped her arms around her knees and listened. Were these lyrics meant for her? Or was it just some song? She could feel herself getting the chills. Prickles all up and down her back and arms, and tears threatening behind her eyes. There was no way this was going to make her cry. The guy singing a song to the girl with the guitar was so clichéd. But it was getting right to her heart.

"_I'll stand by you._

_And when, when the night falls on you baby,_

_You're feeling all alone, you're wandering on your own,_

_I'll stand by you._

_I'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you,_

_I'll stand by you, baby, even to your darkest hour,_

_And I'll never desert you_

_I'll stand by you."_

"And I mean that," he added, walking over to her bed.

He looked at her very closely, trying to gauge her response. She didn't say a word but he could see her eyes filling up with unshed tears. He was hoping that she understood that every word he was saying was true.

He questioned her with his eyes.

"That - that was beautiful. I have never heard that before. Did you write that? Is it yours?"

"No. I wish it were. You'll start hearing it more in a few years." She wondered exactly what that meant. He set the guitar back and went to the window.

"Well, love, is there anything I can get you before I go?"

The whole cliché about a guy, a girl, and a guitar was a cliché for a reason, Sarah found. She was finding layers to him that she never knew he had! And now she was finding something else. She was really hoping that he might try to kiss her before he left. All of the talk about being just friends had left her head.

But he bent down, kissed her forehead, and started to turn around to go out the window. Sarah reached for his hand and pulled him closer to her. For a few moments they just looked into each other's eyes, wonderingly. Then Sarah stretched toward him and kissed his soft lower lip. Enveloping it with her own.

Jareth tensed for a moment, as if surprised. As he started to pull away, she reached for his shirt and pulled him in, not letting him go. Finally he returned the kiss, a little harder. He put one arm on her back and wound her hair in between his fingers with the other hand, pulling her even closer.

She had so many pent up feelings toward this man, and she did not know what to do with them. She mewed a little, back in her throat. Softly, the tip of his tongue came out to explore her inner lip. Then it gently teased her tongue and waited for a response. Her tongue circled around his and he let it enter his mouth a little further. He softly groaned. He began sucking on her lower lip, the hand on her back pulling her yet closer to him.

Then he dipped his head down to her beautiful long neck, and began kissing her there - she arched her back. His mouth came back to hers. This time he removed the hand that was behind her back and pushed her back on the bed - straddling her with his knees on the bed, he reached for both of her hands and gently pinned them over her head to the bed while claiming her mouth even harder. She was in heaven. Feeling his weight on top of her was an additional thrill. And the man could kiss!

My God, she thought. I have seriously been missing out on things for years. As their kissing deepened, Sarah could feel her body coming to life everywhere. The heat between her legs was starting to rise up to the rest of her body. She could feel him, hard and large, gently pushing toward her. She shouldn't have started this. This was getting out of control.

"Wait! Stop!" She gasped. He was breathing heavily and she was too. He looked her deeply in the eyes. Her green eyes and his beautiful mismatched ones.

"Jareth this is – oh my God – this is wonderful, but I need to slow down."

Without a word he got up off the bed and headed to the window.

"I can give you time, Sarah. After all I've waited a lifetime for you. I'm leaving now, and I shall see you in the morning." He left abruptly.

She wondered if she had done the right thing, because at that moment, she felt certain that things would have reached a conclusion that she was not ready for.

There was so much more about him she needed to know before that happened. And, she had had too many one nighters to do that with Jareth. The way she was feeling about him was different than she had felt for anyone before. She did not want to put this relationship into any sort of jeopardy. He had become - what was the word - precious to her.

But still. She wished he hadn't left so quickly. Was he angry? Should she even care? Had she ruined everything? Why did she do that? Especially after they had just discussed it hours ago. What was she thinking?

She was so conflicted. Strong, sweet feelings for him on the one hand, lust on the other? What was this? She didn't want to ruin it.

She screamed into her pillow out of frustration.

When Jareth appeared in the throne room, this time the goblins were all gone. Finn had sent them all home for the evening. Apparently, Finn had gone to bed himself in one of the guest rooms.

Jareth was so grateful for the solitude. He flung himself into his chair and covered his eyes with one hand. He didn't know what prompted him to sing that particular song to her - it must have been her sense of self doubt and doubting his acceptance.

He remembered when he had first heard it, although that was awhile from now. And that kiss - her soft, sweet mouth under his, the feel of her body between his legs, it was unlike any kiss he had ever had. And he had had many. And he had had other beautiful women. But none compared to Sarah. And he knew that no one ever would.

He was right to go along with his instincts. Yet he strongly hoped that he had not frightened her away. She was a woman now, not a teenager, but he was glad they had ended it where they did. He did not want to go too fast. No matter how difficult, he would never push her.

He spent another hour or so going over the evening in his mind, eyes still closed. He continually focused on what he wanted with her, and how he wanted it to happen organically. She needed time. He vowed to give her that.

**I** **had to put in the guitar bit, because while I play an acoustic guitar, it is not a 12 string. I added that because that was David Bowie's ****first ****favorite guitar. He had several ****Dual Tone electric ****guitars, but tended to favor the 12 string acoustic more than anything.**

**The beautiful song****I'll Stand By You**** was originally done by The Pretenders in 1994. Jareth makes a cryptic comment to Sarah about hearing this song again in a few years. As the story takes place in 1991, you might want to let your imagination play around with that.(!?)**


	9. A Million Miles Away

"We can spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain, when it finally reveals itself. The future is never the way we imagined it." – Sarah Williams

Sarah was able to get the doctor's note to all of her professors in order to continue her courses. She was sitting at home, working on homework, when there was a slight shift in the atmosphere followed by a golden sparkling in the corner. It was Jareth. Sarah smiled, looked back down and continued her homework.

"You have a very annoying way of sneaking up on people. Do you think you could do something that is a little bit less creepy?"

Jareth grinned. "I'm certain that I could come up with something creative."

Sarah had been working with a bowl of M&Ms next to her. Jareth reached in and grabbed a handful. "Love these", he said, mumbling around a mouth full of candy.

"You're not supposed to eat them by the handful," she looked amused, shook her head and turned back to her books.

Jareth jumped onto the couch, crossed his legs at the ankles and put his arms behind his head. He nodded at her stereo, and New Order began to play.

"Ah. I always loved them. Listened to them a lot at University."

"I like them too. Especially that album. But not at that level and not when I'm trying to study."

"Ah. That. I was hoping to talk to you about that."

"About?"

"Taking a short break from your life up here, coming back to the Underground to see some old friends, and letting me show you the realm from a different point of view."

"But I have school. I'm almost ready to graduate. I can't just blow that off - I have worked so hard…."

Jareth jumped up from the couch and stood behind Sarah. He began gently massaging her shoulders and the back of her neck - both of which were incredibly stiff. She had been studying since very early this morning. He had perfectly magical hands. He knew exactly where to touch her, and how to do it. She closed her eyes and leaned her head to the side.

"Although," she said, "If you keep doing that, I think I might say yes to almost anything."

Aha. She might consider it. He kept on massaging her. "I was thinking that I could introduce you to some members of my family – only one or two at first. And then, we can have your friends over for dinner several times, take some lovely tours of the grounds, the orchards, the fields, and even the farms and stables. You could meet the people of my realm. I think you will find it the kingdom is far more beautiful in reality than it was on your Labyrinth run. And I for one, would really love to hear your opinion of everything. I haven't been king for very long but I have been trying to institute changes from day one. With your heart, your education, and your brain, I think you would be a perfect partner in that endeavor."

"Except that you've completely neglected the fact that I cannot leave school at this time."

He spun her chair around to face him and looked up into her eyes. "But that's just the thing," he said. "I can manipulate time! I can take you down there for several weeks, and when you return, it will still be today!"

"So. The homework, the calls to friends, violin lessons, coursework and classes, I wouldn't miss any of that?"

He folded his arms across his chest and looked particularly proud. "You wouldn't miss one minute, love."

She had stopped trying to remind him not to call her that, although honestly, she kind of liked it. Not that she would ever admit it. His idea was so very tempting. And it honestly seemed as if there was no downside. No reason not to go. And maybe in going, and in seeing things again, that would help her heal mentally even more, and get to know him better. Although she had to admit that since Jareth's arrival, and all of their late night discussions, she was feeling so much stronger and more positive. She was feeling like Sarah again. And that was a good person to be.

In the end, it didn't take much more convincing. She was very curious to see more of his kingdom, and appreciated the idea that he would want her thoughts. The final push she needed was that she would not miss any time Aboveground. So why not?

She told Jareth that she was heading into the bedroom to pack.

"You don't need to do that, you know."

She looked at him blankly. "Why not?"

"Because we already have everything you need. The clothing that you wear down there will be different from anything you have here. And anything else that you might need, I can get for you."

"But not my shampoo and conditioner, and my makeup. And my brush. And my lingerie."

At the word lingerie, Jareth's eyes lit up. "Really? And why might you need that?" He tapped his finger on his chin.

"Not what you're thinking," she laughed. "It's just that, they are more comfortable. And they're mine."

"You may find other things that are better suited to the clothing there. But if you insist, pack away."

As she was finding the things in the bathroom that she wanted, something occurred to her. She headed back to the living room. Jareth was reading a magazine.

"Where am I going to sleep?"

He pulled his glasses down and looked at her over the top of them. He didn't need to – they were clear glass, but it gave him a wise, owlish look.

"Where do you want to sleep?"

"I should think that was pretty clear. We are going to be – "

"Friends, I know. But it seemed more than friendly the other night."

"You know I'm not ready for that, Jareth. In spite of the other night."

He rose from the couch, held her face in both hands and kissed her gently on the forehead. "I know. I'm going to give you as much time as you need. And even if you decide, although I certainly hope you won't, that you would rather not – I will respect that."

He added, "You haven't seen much of the castle yet. But I have many, many lovely rooms for you to choose from. No worries there."

Relieved, she finished packing her bare necessities and her violin, and stood next to Jareth, who was reclining on the couch again. "Well, I'm ready."

"So you are." He winked at her, and wrapped one arm around her waist. "Hold on." As they disappeared into a swirl of golden glitter, the atmosphere in the apartment glimmered for a second.

When they arrived, seconds later, they were in the throne room. Jareth had been sure to ask Finn and the goblins to clear out. Sarah let him keep his arm around her waist while she looked all around the room. She had been here before. Memories started to come back. Not all of them pleasant.

She felt a gentle tugging on her violin case and looked down. There was a small little goblin trying to take her things.

She looked up at Sarah and smiled. "You're Lady Sarah, aren't you? The Champion of the Labyrinth!"

"Yes, I suppose I am." Sarah smiled.

"Master has asked Spam to be your helper and guide, Lady Sarah," said the little creature, proudly.

"Spam, see to it that the Lady Sarah has the finest guest room in the castle. You will be attending to her every need."

He turned to Sarah. "I'll give you some time to become acclimated, while I take care of some things. Would you care to meet me back here in about half an hour?"

Sarah nodded, and followed Spam down a huge hallway. She had the feeling that this was going to be an incredible adventure.

After Spam had shown her the bathroom, and how to work the faucets, she pointed out the sitting area and the bedroom. She then headed to a very large armoire on the opposite wall. Because she was too short to open it, Sarah had to. There were several beautiful gowns in there, each more lovely than the last. It was interesting, she thought, that it seemed that the clothing down here was so different, yet almost reminiscent of something that would have been worn hundreds of years ago in the Aboveground. She chose a fitted, celadon green, watered silk dress that came to the floor. It had long straight sleeves and a simple V-neck. Sarah washed her face, applied a small amount of make up, and headed back to the throne room, her silk slippers making no sound on the marble floors.

When she entered the room, Jareth was standing, both of his arms crossed. He was speaking to a young man about his own age, who had a definite family resemblance to Jareth's face. This man however, had longer dark hair and was dressed in much brighter colors. Since coming home, Jareth had returned to his mostly black ensemble and wild hair. They stopped speaking and turned when Sarah entered the room. For a moment they both stared.

"Cousin!" The young man cried out, patting Jareth on the back. "You said she was beautiful, but you never said that she was such an absolutely enchanting creature!" He strode across the floor, took Sarah's hand, give an elegant bow, and kissed the back of it. "So lovely to meet you, Lady Sarah," he said. "I am Finbar, Jareth's first cousin."

He then held both of Sarah's hands in his own and slowly twirled her around several times. "Oh my. This is the lovely Sarah. The Champion of the Labyrinth! Jareth, how did you ever let this one go?"

Sarah smiled at him. He seemed so sweet. Then she noticed the proud look on Jareth's face.

Jareth headed over to the two of them. "She had better things to do," he said. "But she's back now, for a quick visit and perhaps some much-needed advice on improving the kingdom." He wound an arm around Sarah's waist, almost possessively, she thought. "And you need to know, Finn, that she is strictly off limits."

Finn's smile never dimmed. "Of course, of course," he said. "Jareth, I would never dare to attempt to take your woman from you."

"Not that you ever could," said Jareth.

Sarah was feeling annoyed a bit. "You know," she said, "I am no one's – " Jareth squeezed her waist, and she looked up at him. He nodded his head no, just slightly.

Once Finn had left, Jareth said to her, "As Champion of the Labyrinth and a friend of mine," he said, "You will need a certain amount of protection. I have assigned people for just that reason, and they are so good that you should never know they are there. However, it is critical that people believe that you and I have a relationship. It will keep you much safer."

"Finn seems nice," she said as she walked toward the large open window.

"He is a womanizer, he drinks too much, and he cheats at cards. Aside from all that, yes, he is a good man. I would trust him with my life."

Sarah set her hands down on the window ledge and peered out. It was a lovely, blue velvet evening. The unknown constellations were beautiful, and the lights of the town and houses beyond were welcoming and twinkling.

Jareth had walked up behind her and now rested his hands on the windowsill as well, so that she was between his arms. "Can you hear the crickets singing?" he whispered into her ear. She shivered.

She leaned back against him and his arms came round her, wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer to him. He rested his chin on the top of her head, and they enjoyed the view and the crickets' song for a few minutes.

Jareth bent his head down to kiss Sarah's neck. He kissed her from her collarbone all the way up to her jaw bone and behind her ear. It was completely disarming, and she leaned back into him a little further, arching her neck as she did so. She heard as well as felt a soft, deep laugh at the base of Jared's throat, and he began to suck on the soft skin of her neck between shoulder and collarbone.

Her breathing quickened and she needed to touch him. She reached for his hands, and he held both of her hands in his, still wrapping his arms around her waist. She softly purred while she let his mouth do its magic on her neck. Love bites, her mother called them. She was definitely going to have one after this evening.

Slowly, he spun her around to face him, his hands on her waist. She reached up around the back of his neck and played with the soft, silky hair there. He smiled at her, in the starlight, and she thought to herself that this was one of the most perfect moments of her life.

All she could do was gaze back at him, looking into those magical eyes.

"I can't believe you're really here," he breathed.

She smiled back and shook her head, "Neither can I."

"Do you know that I've been able to get cat noises out of you since we met this second time?" When she gave him a look of confusion, he said, "Purring. You purr. I don't know how you do that. And I heard you mew the other night."

She had heard somewhere that you needed to take a moment in life occasionally and look around. Because that might be all you have. And she wanted this moment to last forever.

She just stared at him, wide-eyed and smiling. "I have never been accused of that before. Maybe it's your incredible kisses…" she got up on tiptoe to reach his lips for a kiss, but before she could do so, he put his hands on her shoulders and held her back from him.

"We. Have much to do tomorrow. Starting very early in the morning. Do you remember how we agreed that we were going to take things slowly?" She nodded at him. "This is one of those moments where I need to break things off right now. Because if I don't, I may not be able to stop."

She wondered to herself if that was such a bad idea, and kicked herself mentally for suggesting that they go slowly. Damn! Still. He was probably right. Good thing one of them was the voice of reason in this relationship, even though it seemed that they took turns.

They held hands as they headed down the long hallway. Jareth had told her that there would be a light supper waiting for her in her room. Once they reached her door, she turned to look up at him.

"Tomorrow will be early. Spam will be there to help you with anything you need, including getting dressed. I had some items ready for you, but at some point we should take the time to allow you to choose things that may be more to your taste. Can I get you anything before I go?"

She pounced on him. Kissing him, hard, while burying her hands in his thick, soft hair. Surprised, he skipped a beat, then turned her around so that her back was against the wall, his hands holding her face. He kissed back just as hard, their tongues circling, meeting, exploring the soft velvet of each other's mouths. An involuntary groan escaped from deep in Jareth's throat. He slowly, softly, ran the back of his hand down her body from her neck, over her breasts, to her waist. She trembled at his touch, but leaned back herself, to look at him.

Mmmm. She purred, deliberately this time. "You mean like that?" She asked, smiling.

"You little wench." He shook his head, smiling. "And now you're going to send me off to bed, all alone…"

"If you're scared, I'm sure we could get a goblin or two to snuggle with you." She giggled.

He grabbed at her, picking her up by the waist and throwing her over his shoulder, spinning around the hall as he did so. She squealed.

"Think you're funny, do you? Let's see how funny it is in the oubliette."

She was full out laughing now as he spun around in circles. "OK, OK, uncle!" "Whose uncle?" He asked.

"It's an expression! Can you put me down now?" Reluctantly, he set her on her feet.

"That will teach you to tease the Goblin King." He stepped back, crossed his arms, and tried to look regal and intimidating.

She felt like she knew him too well to ever be intimidated by him again. She felt as though he had been in her heart, a part of her, since her Labyrinth run and all of the time leading up to now. She felt such a warmth in her heart when she looked at him.

She smiled up at him. "Tomorrow?" He opened her door for her to usher her in. "Tomorrow," he grinned.

_**New Order**_**, the band that Jareth played at the beginning of the chapter, initially started out as Joy Division in 1976. The lead singer of Joy division, Ian Curtis, was a huge David Bowie fan. After his suicide in 1980, the band regrouped as New Order and became one of the leaders in the post punk and synth pop movement coming out of Britain at that time.**


	10. Learning to Love Like You

"We all get at least one good wish in a year over the candles on our birthday. Some of us throw in more, on eyelashes, fountains, lucky stars. And every now and then, one of those wishes come true. So what then? Is it as good as we hoped? Do we bask in the warm glow of our happiness or do we just notice we've got a long list of other wishes waiting to be wished? We don't wish for the easy stuff. We wish for big things. Things that are ambitious, out of reach. We wish because we need help and we're scared and we know we may be asking too much. We still wish though because sometimes they come true."

Sarah Williams

Jareth woke to the sound of Sarah screaming. He was halfway out of bed ready to kill someone when he also heard her laughing. And laughing again. Then he heard a deep male voice laughing as well. What the hell was going on?

Stumbling down the hall into the throne room he looked around. Nothing. Then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye through the window. He stepped over to it, and saw Sarah and Finn splashing each other in the fountain. Like children. They were both soaked to the skin, Sarah's silk dress was ruined, although it clung to her body in a way that sent all kinds of thoughts through Jareth's brain.

He opened the French doors, stepping out into the garden. Both Sarah and his cousin suddenly looked up, seeming sheepish at being caught. Then Sarah's face broke into a devilish grin. She reached down and tossed a scoopful of water directly at Jareth. He looked stunned for a moment. Almost no one had ever dared treat him like this. Finn could see the gears in his mind turning as he chose between joining them to play, and maintaining his kingly stature.

Finn tried to convince him to join them. "Come on, Jareth! No one can see us, and you deserve a bit of fun now and then."

"Or," piped in Sarah, "Is your ego as big as your hair?" While Finn hooted at that one, Jareth ran to the fountain, stepped in, and grabbed Sarah around the waist. She was slippery, and laughing so hard he was almost afraid he would drop her.

"What I would like to know," Jareth asked, in between big splashes into his face and laughing, "Is who exactly is responsible for starting this?"

Both Sarah and Finn froze and then pointed fingers at each other. "He did!" Sarah was quick to cry out.

"You know, my dear," said Finn, "I believe you are very much mistaken. It was definitely you!"

"Take that back!" She struggled to get out of Jareth's arms.

"She's a feisty little thing, isn't she?" Finn asked Jareth.

"Keeps me on _my_ toes!" Jareth replied.

"I can see that!"

Oh, that's how it was going to be, was it? They had decided to talk about her in third person!

"Hey! Sarah doesn't like being talked about in the third person! _Sarah _is right here!" she cried. "Sarah thinks that both of you boys should be taught a lesson!"

"Really?" drawled Jareth easily. "Jareth would like to know what that is?"

Before she could answer, a small red fox, sword in paw, came racing around the corner of the castle, riding his steed - a great English sheepdog. "Never fear, my Lady, Sir Didymus shall protect you!"

He pulled up short at the edge of the fountain, seeing Sarah's smile of delight and that it was the king who was holding her.

Jareth had set her down and Sarah scrambled out of the fountain, giving Didymus and then Ambrosias big, soggy hugs.

"'Tis wonderful to see you, m'lady. And may I say that you have grown into an even more beautiful young woman than you were as a lovely girl!"

"Thank you, Didymus. I have missed you so very much."

"Yes, well, I was so sorry to break my promise to you," Here he gave Jareth a hard look, "But it could not be helped."

The earth beneath their feet began to shake as if some huge, heavy thing were running toward them. And indeed it was.

"Sawah!" Called out Ludo in delight. When he reached her, he gathered her up into a great hug. Sarah thought happily that she had not been picked up as often as this since she was little.

"Ludo! It is so good to see you!" Ludo just beamed.

She felt a slight pulling on her dress. She looked down. "And who is being completely ignored, I would like ta know?"

"Look who's here, Sarah!" Jareth cried out. "It's Hoghead, come to see you!"

Hoggle's eyes shot daggers at Jareth until Sarah gave him a breathtaking embrace. "Hoggle! You have no idea how much I have missed you!"

"Yeh, well," Hoggle flicked water off his vest. "That weren't _my_ idea." He, too gave Jareth a baleful glare. Jareth had the grace to look somewhat regretful.

She looked at him a second time. Because he had run out of bed without dressing, he was wearing nothing but burgundy silk pajama pants. Which were now wet. He was shirtless. She wondered how she could have missed this glorious sight.

"Sarah thinks that Jareth ought to wear things like that more often," she said, nodding her head toward him.

Jareth smiled and said, "Jareth thinks Sarah needs to dry off." And with one graceful motion he swept his hand toward her and her dress was perfectly dry and restored. Jareth looked over his shoulder at Finn. "And you're on your own."

"That's bloody family loyalty, right there, isn't it?" Finn muttered to himself. It took him several tries to dry off his clothing. Clearly he did not have the magical abilities that Jareth did.

Jareth had thought that Sarah might like an early breakfast with her old friends. When they came into the castle through the French doors, he lead them to the dining hall, where one end of a large table was beautifully set for breakfast.

Ludo looked doubtfully at the silverware in front of him.

While the four friends were gleefully catching up on one another's lives in the past five years, Jareth and Finn were engaged in a quiet conversation of their own. Several goblins were trotting about, serving food and clearing plates. More than one plate was broken that morning.

"Love," said Jareth when it seemed as if everyone was finished, "I'm thinking that we could walk around the city a bit, and meet some people both there and in some of the surrounding homes. This will just be a casual visit, a chance for you to get a different look at the kingdom. We'll bring a picnic lunch and then have dinner at home."

"It sounds lovely," she smiled.

Ludo, Didymus and Hoggle all went their separate ways. The four friends had made plans for more get-togethers during Sarah's visit.

Sarah, Jareth, and Finn headed into the Goblin City. It looked fairly well, with the holes that had previously been blown into the walls patched. The houses were small, with thatched roofs. They looked, as Sarah expected, very medieval, but surprisingly neat. Sarah did not expect that from goblins.

Soon they were all surrounded by happy bouncing goblins. "That's her!" "The Labyrinth Champion!" "The Lady Sarah!" "She's back!" "Why is she here?"

Sarah took the time to get down on one knee so that she was eye to eye with most of the goblins. She answered their questions, and laughed with some of them.

Jareth and Finn stood by, watching. "They seem quite taken with her," said Finn.

"Yes, said Jareth. "She tends to make friends wherever she goes."

"Even with goblins?" Finn asked. "Even with everyone," Jareth said, a certain amount of pride in his voice.

As they walked through the Goblin market, it seemed that Sarah was something of a celebrity. They were given flowers, a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, and various cheeses. Finn noted that they hadn't needed to bring a picnic lunch after all.

Sarah had asked to see one of the schools, and while she was fairly impressed, she did notice some things that could be added to the curriculum. She also noticed that the students were writing on small chalkboards, instead of paper. She noticed that there were no crayons. No pencils or lined paper. She noticed that there was no classroom library. All of the things that a well equipped school Aboveground had were absent in this school. She made a mental note to talk to Jareth about this.

They visited a healer's shop. There were no hospitals Underground. The healer was doing the best that she could, she used herbal remedies, and limited magic, but she had no surgical skills and none of the tools or medicine that was so critical to trauma care. Another mental note.

As Jareth had already told her about the quality of higher learning underground, they skipped that part. As a Cambridge student, he already had some excellent ideas on improving higher learning.

The library had been designated for use only by Fae and Elves. In addition, Sarah noticed very little in the way of history, good literature, and geography amongst the books.

They had a lovely lunch on a grassy hill underneath a huge yew tree. Jareth explained that this tree was one of their "trees of life", and then went on to explain exactly what that meant.

"My people believe that the tree of life is an archetype in the world's mythologies, related to the concept of sacred trees more generally as well as in religious and philosophical tradition."

"The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree."

"We believe that there are more than one, that they can form a sacred grove, and they are to be protected. This particular tree is several thousand years old. Those who foolishly attempt to cut down such a tree are generally met with a death sentence."

Sarah looked wonderingly up at the huge, ancient tree. She had to admit that she felt a certain calming energy emanating from it. She felt that she could spend much more time here.

After lunch, they walked to the outlying houses past the perimeter of the Goblin City. Most of the creatures who lived here were elves, tall, slender and graceful. They looked curiously at Sarah, and when they discovered that she was the Labyrinth Champion they broke out into big smiles and invited her into their homes. Sarah spent at least an hour in conversation with the elves. Again, Finn and Jareth stood off to one side. It made Sarah uncomfortable, and she promised herself to talk to him about it this evening.

When they returned to the castle, Jareth had made sure that there was wine, bread and cheese waiting for them.

They sat outside while they ate, enjoying the sunset.

"So, love, do you have any thoughts yet on what you saw today?"

Sarah bent her head down as if thinking of the best way to put this. "Sometime later, we can talk about plumbing, electricity, schools and medicine."

"Perhaps we might even be able to get some experts from the Above to help us with those things. I am neither a civil engineer, nor a surgeon. But we can find people that we trust to come down here and help us make adjustments," said Jareth.

Sarah continued, "The biggest thing, though, I wanted to ask you is this: why did the two of you stand back the entire time that I was talking to members of your kingdom?"

Finn barked out a laugh. "Because we are royalty. Royalty has nothing to do with the plebeians that we rule. To become too friendly with them is to invite disrespect." Jareth said nothing.

"It would seem to me," ventured Sarah, That if you are trying to advance this kingdom into the place you want it to be, you might want to make it more of a democracy, and less of a monarchy."

Finn had not heard of the word "democracy" before, and was trying to puzzle it out in his head. Again, Jareth said nothing. But he had a thoughtful look on his face.

"And the two of you," she continued, "Seemed as if you were superior to everyone that I spoke to. Do you believe that you are superior to those other beings?"

Jareth looked down at the table. Knowing Sarah, he knew what was coming.

Finn, however, did not. Again he laughed. "Well of course we are! We are more intelligent, we are stronger, more civilized, we are better in every way!"

Jareth saw Sarah suck in her bottom lip. Her eyes began to become fiery. "So," she asked, "Would you call yourself a racist?" Finn had no idea what that was. And he said so.

"A racist is someone who believes that their race or ethnicity is better than everyone else's. In my world we have had horrible wars over this. We still continue to fight prejudice and genocide. Is _that_ something that you would find acceptable?"

Seeing the barely controlled fury in Sarah's face had Finn back down. "No, I would not," he admitted, sheepishly.

"Well that could be very possibly where you are headed if this kind of mindset continues." Then she added, "And just out of curiosity, what do you think of humans? My people?"

Jareth jumped in. "For the most part, we think of humans in a positive light. They are delicate, and they are not immortal. This causes them to make the most out of the lives that they have. That is most likely why they have made advances far beyond ours. This is most likely why most of them treasure life, all life, as much as they do." He placed one hand on the arm that Sarah had resting on the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"As I said, we have much to do down here. And I appreciate your candidness."

Sarah's anger toward Finn begin to melt at Jareth's touch.

"I also think," and here she paused, "That there are some things Aboveground that you will not want. Increased crime, air, water, and land pollution, and other things that we have created, inadvertently, unfortunately. It would be wonderful if you could avoid things like that in improving your kingdom."

Suddenly Sarah heard a few pops. Then a whistle. Then, before she knew it, a comet-like thing shot into the sky and exploded into a fiery flower. More of these followed. The sky became lit up with these fireworks, and it was absolutely magical. Finn was looking at her and smiling.

Jareth stood up behind Sarah and wrapped his arms around her.

He whispered into her ear, "Welcome, sweetheart. This is all for you."

She turned around and gazed at him, his face lit up by the impressive fireworks. "For me?" she whispered.

He just nodded and squeezed her a little tighter. "We are welcoming the Labyrinth Champion back."


	11. How Soon is Now

"You know how when you were a little kid and you believed in fairy tales, that fantasy of what your life would be, white dress, Prince Charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill. You would lie in bed at night and close your eyes and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close you could taste them, but eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears. Most people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is, its hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely because almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true."

– Sarah Williams

When Sarah woke up, the sun was shining through the curtains. She was dying for a cup of coffee. But she also didn't want to get dressed yet. She spied a lovely silk robe hanging on a hook at the back of her door and put it on. Hopefully that would be socially appropriate.

As she approached the dining room, she could see that it was empty. She walked over to the throne room. Empty. She explored a bit of the first floor of the castle, before she found Jareth in the library.

And what a glorious library it was! It had to be at least two stories high, with books all the way to the ceiling. There was a tall ladder that could slide back-and-forth that allowed one to reach the books on top. Sunlight streamed through the window, and the walls that were not covered in books had a beautiful mahogany wood surface.

Jareth was sitting on a green velvet sofa, reading a newspaper, with a cup of coffee on the table in front of him. He looked up when she came in. She was relieved to see that he was wearing a robe as well.

"Good morning, Beautiful!"

She smiled at him. His robe was open almost to his waist and she could see his chest. Yum.

"May I get you a cup of coffee?" He asked. Sarah just shook her head yes, wordlessly.

He snapped his fingers, and an identical mug appeared on the table. He patted the seat next to him. "Get over here."

She stretched before she sat down, he put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him, resting her head on his chest.

"What are you reading?" She tried to see the name of the paper.

"Tripe, mostly. It has come to my attention that our daily periodical is definitely in need of work."

"Hmm." She nodded.

"Not one for mornings, are we?"

"No," she admitted. "I am not a morning person at all."

"Coffee, love. Coffee makes everything better," he said as he pointed toward her mug. She gratefully picked up the steaming mug and inhaled the wonderful scent.

"You've even put cream in it," she said. "How did you know?" He smiled wordlessly and turned the page of the paper.

"So." He said. "Is today one of those days that you share with your friends?"

"Yes." She replied. "I thought we might go into the Goblin Village and check out some of the shops."

Jareth chuckled. "Good luck getting Ludo into those."

She smiled. "And then we're going to have lunch at one of the local pubs. Anything in particular that you can recommend?"

"I'd say The Barley Mow. Fish and chips to die for," he smiled.

They spent the rest of the morning sipping coffee in companionable silence.

A goblin walked into the room. He had a helmet with spikes all over it and in his hand he held a tub of cleaning supplies. He set it down and begin to dust the books. He kept turning around to peer at Sarah. Jareth noticed.

"Lady Sarah," he said formally, "May I introduce you to Dogbreath. Dogbreath, the Lady Sarah." The little goblin's eyes widened, he nodded his head and then quickly turned around again.

Sarah was amused. Jareth gently jabbed her with an elbow. "I think he likes you," he whispered. She kissed his nose.

Eventually, Sarah got up and said, "I should get dressed for the day."

"I shall get Spam to help you," he suggested.

Normally she would turn down the idea of having someone help her dress. But the dresses that she had were very complex. They required about 50 buttons down the back and a corset that certainly required someone else to tie.

After she left, Jareth wondered to himself how much longer she would like to stay. He was hoping it would be for a very long time. He wanted the chance to show her who he really was, what a good person he could be, and he was hoping she would fall in love with him.

As Sarah dressed, she deliberately chose to go with the low V neckline. She was hoping that would get Jareth's attention.

He had said that after her time with friends, they would go for a walk in the Castle Gardens, have a light dinner, and then go to a different pub that he and Finn liked to have a few drinks and to hear some music.

She was very curious to find out what sort of music they had down here. Of course, there must be more than one, but she wondered what they might play in a pub, and if it was like anything back home.

Sarah and her friends had a wonderful time at the Goblin Market and looking around at some of the shops.

Jareth had given her some money to buy something for herself. Instead, she spent it on her friends. She bought a jaunty little velvet cap for Didymus, a spiffy new leather vest for Hoggle, and a large box of chocolates for Ludo.

The four friends had lunch at the pub that Jareth had suggested. As he had promised, the fish and chips were delicious.

Ludo insisted on sharing his chocolates after lunch. Hoggle decided that this was time to bring up a rather serious conversation.

"Ya know, Jareth was not the same after you left." She looked at Didymus, who shook his head in agreement.

"For a while there, he was downright intolerable. Well, even more so. But since you have come back into his life, M'lady,"said Didymus, "He is a new man." Hoggle shook his head yes in agreement.

"It is so much better here now that you have arrived, Lady Sarah," he continued.

Hoggle agreed. "Yer very good for him. Although I don't know why you would want to see him again."

Sarah just smiled. "I didn't know either. But I'm coming to truly care for him. I am seeing parts of him that I never saw before. I don't know where we are going from here, but I truly love spending time with him."

"And all three of you. You would not believe how sad I was when I couldn't reach you, or him. I thought about him very much, I must say."

Hoggle blurted out, "Well, that's hard to believe!" Didymus kicked him under the table.

All three of them looked at each other. "Lady Sarah," began Didymus, his paw on her knee. "We were wondering how long you were planning on staying? We would love to have you stay with us all of the time, but we know that you have another life Above."

Sarah gave a great sigh. "I honestly do not know. I don't know where things are going with us, so therefore I can't plan for the future. Regardless, I need to go back Above to finish school. I only have one more semester. And I have no idea exactly how he feels. Affectionate, I know. But the only way I would move down here is if we both loved one another, made a commitment to one another and I just don't know where we are at this point."

She smiled sadly. "I'm just not sure how he feels about me, exactly. I know how I feel about him, but that's all."

They left the conversation there and headed back to the castle.

Jareth was waiting for her under an arbor that had climbing roses on it. He had two glasses of rosewater lemonade. He smiled when he saw her, standing up.

"How was your morning?"

"Absolutely wonderful," she replied. "I cannot tell you how good it is to see them again. And you were right about that particular pub. The food was amazing."

" I thought you might like a glass of this. It _is_ warm out today. Sarah tasted the lemonade, thrilled by the hint of roses in it."

She smiled at him. "So thoughtful of you!"

"Shall I give you a tour?" He asked, holding out one arm. She took his arm and they began walking down one of the many paths in his garden.

Sarah noticed a tall wall of boxwood growing off to her left, seemingly going on forever. "Is that?..." She began.

"Yes. It is the Labyrinth, only this side of her."

"Her? What do you mean?"

"The Labyrinth is a thinking, sentient being," he answered. "It is connected to me."

"So, you can get her to do pretty much whatever you want her to?" Sarah asked.

"Yes and no," said Jareth. "Our relationship is somewhat reciprocal. That is why you were never able to cross this wall. It would've been far too easy. She directed your way. She's also the one who puts the Labyrinth books out into your world. In this way, I can receive wished-aways and give them a much better life than they most likely would've had."

"Sure," said Sarah bitterly. "As a goblin." She shook her head in disgust.

He took a long look at her, and then begin to laugh. "Is that what you really think? That I would do that to a child or a baby?"

"Don't you?"

"Absolutely not! I find good homes for them here in the Underground. We take in children that have been abused, that are sick, that are neglected, or that are otherwise unsafe. We give them a safe, happy home here with families that love them."

"But the book said…"

"The book says anything it needs to in order to get children here. In this case, it needed to teach you a lesson. I just play along, do what is expected of me. It all depends on the situation," he said offhandedly.

He reached out to a rosebush and plucked a beautiful pink rose. "Don't worry," he said. "These don't have thorns. He tucked it carefully behind her ear, held both of her arms and looked at her. "There," he said. "You will always be My Rose."

She found herself gazing into those beautiful mismatched eyes. She wanted him so much right now. As if reading her mind, he bent down and kissed her softly on the lips.

She stood up on tiptoe to reach up and make the kiss firmer. She wanted to taste him, so she gently licked his lips and when they parted she reached in with her tongue. He tasted of roses. How perfect could this be?

She heard a deep sound in the back of his throat. He could feel the heat in her mouth. This was something he had dreamed of for years and it seared through him. Sarah wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling the taut

muscles in his back.

All of those years, all of those dreams… Sarah was losing her mind, willingly. Her blood pounded in her veins as he devoured her mouth and found her as hungry for him as he was for her. Unreserved fire and passion met him, incredibly. His tongue plunged between her lips, tasted her, found her tongue twined around his. His hands drove into all of that lush black hair, grabbed handfuls of it and crushed her mouth to his as her fingers slid into his hair to pull his mouth down against hers.

Blindly, he turned them to drive her back against the closest vertical surface, a stone wall surrounding a fountain. He needed that limber body pressed hard against his, needed to feel the press of those firm, full breasts against his chest as he wedged a thigh between hers. The need to touch, be touched, to take and give, nearly overwhelmed him.

Hunger surged inside him. A demand.

More.

Sarah ached. She had never been touched like this. It felt as if she couldn't get close enough to him, that she strained against his body, against the press of his chest, the muscles solid beneath his shirt as she was driven up against the wall and all of him pressed hard against her.

The touch of his hands so warm on her bare skin sent another burst of heat straight to Sarah's core and made it ache as a small sound escaped her.

Jareth had needed to feel her warm skin beneath his hands. It had been so long since he'd felt anything like it. Tugging at her bodice, he loosened it from behind just enough to slide his hands beneath it. He closed his hands around her waist, her skin soft and silky to the touch and sought out the curve of her waist, the arch of her ribs. He tightened his hands, pulled her closer as her mouth moved beneath his, nibbled, sucked. It was delicious torment. He groaned as her skin heated at his touch.

She spread her hands across his chest, underneath his shirt which was almost always open to his waist. There was unbelievable heat there. She looked at him and her green eyes were so dark. She wanted him now.

Suddenly, his face froze, is if he were hearing a voice that Sarah could not. "Damn!" He swore. "We've got another wished-away. Unbelievable timing….." He shook his head.

"Please enjoy the gardens, love. I shall be back as quickly as possible." And he blew her a kiss and disappeared. Just like that.

And left her. Breathless and full of heat, and wanting him so much. If there were something to kick, she would've kicked it. Would've had a full on tantrum, right there. And then she thought to herself that this course of action might not be helpful.

With a big sigh of regret, she headed back to the castle. Without him, she just didn't feel like exploring the garden any longer. She straightened her clothing as best she could, and headed to her room. She lay down on the bed with a book from the library and had fallen asleep before she knew it.


	12. Girl Loves Me

"Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here and don't give a damn about what anyone thinks." - Sarah Williams

Early that evening, she awoke to small little hands gently shaking her arm. "Lady Sarah! Lady Sarah! Are you awake?"

Sarah recognized the voice. "Yes, Spam, I'm awake."

"Lady Sarah, Kingy would like you to join him."

Sarah remembered that they were going to have a light dinner with Finn and then head out to a local pub. "Spam?" asked Sarah.

"What should I wear for going out to a pub and listening to music, do you think?" Spam nodded her head knowingly.

"I say that Lady should have something that lets her dance. Not - not royal dancing," she continued, "Pub – type dancing. Pub dancing can be," Here she paused, "sort of – wilder," she finished.

While she had been explaining this, she was looking through the armoire at the different dresses. "This one," she said.

Sarah looked at it, and pulled the hanger off of the pole that was holding it. It was a deep green, taffeta dress that would show off her creamy shoulders. It was also what might be called a mermaid dress. Meaning it was cinched at the waist to the knees, but then flared out to allow one's feet room for dancing. Additionally, it was cut open at the front, to allow a tantalizing look at her legs.

This green, she thought, would bring out her eyes. She knew that Jareth loved her green eyes. And the design of the gown was extremely flattering. She agreed with Spam. This was the one.

Once she was dressed and ready, Spam handed her another pair of slippers. These were identical to the dress, and according to Spam would be perfect for dancing.

She had left her long hair down, as this seemed to be something of a casual event.

Once she entered the dining room, Jareth and Finn stood up to maintain decorum. Jareth's eyes had gone huge, and he could not take them off of her. Finn had a chunk of bread in his mouth and said something that sounded complementary but was unintelligible due to his mouth being full of food.

After pulling out her chair, both she and Jareth sat down. He placed one hand over hers. "Darling, you are absolutely stunning in that dress. I wish we were staying home so that I could take it off of you…"

Sarah looked down because she could feel the heat rising into her face. Finn looked at both of them. First one, then the other. As if he were watching a tennis match.

"Erm. I have the feeling that I shouldn't even be here," he said, uncomfortably.

Jareth said, while continuing to stare at Sarah, "That's fine. We'll see you tomorrow. Door's that way."

At the same exact time, Sarah said, while staring at Jareth, "Oh no! Please stay. This was supposed to be a group evening."

Finn took a large gulp of wine. "Well, it would seem that you two are at an impasse. So, seriously, what are we doing tonight?"

Sarah tore her eyes away from Jareth. It would be rude to invite someone to a event and then uninvite them right away. "Finn," she said. "We're still going to go to the pub. I promise." While she was talking, Jareth's hand was on her knee under the table. It was very slowly moving upward, and again she could feel heat rise to her face.

She swatted his hand away. "Truly, Your Highness, she smiled, "Is that any way to behave in public?"

Jareth cleared his throat. "It is _exactly_ how I plan to behave in public. I am taking a page from your book – the conversation we had the other night. I plan to try to "fit in" more as a king, and spend less time hanging back."

Sarah turned her delighted smile on to Finn. Once again, his mouth was full of food. This time it was a chunk of cheese half the size of his hand.

He shook his head in agreement with Jareth, and by the sounds he was making, it seems that he intended to follow suit. Sarah giggled at him.

"Aaaannd I would say that my cousin certainly has the eating habits appropriate to a pub." Sarah laughed, and Finn tried to look outraged. It wasn't effective, however, with the huge chunk of cheese in his mouth.

As the main street of Goblin City ran right in front of the castle grounds, they decided to walk. Jareth was secure in this, knowing that the people he had hired to watch over them and keep them safe were doing so from a distance. Sarah had no idea they were there. And they were so good, he could not spot them either. They walked into the stone pub, this one called Tipsy McStaggers.

A beautiful, dark-haired barmaid lead them to the best table in the house – a thick, oaken table directly next to the fireplace. She asked them what they wanted. Both Jareth and Finn ordered an ale. Sarah, not knowing what they had, turned to Jareth. "If you would rather not have an ale or mead, love, there is a delightful beverage with elderflower elixir in it."

She ordered that and it wasn't until then that she noticed how quiet the pub had become. How it seemed as if all eyes were on them.

These people were not used to seeing their king so close. Let alone in a pub. Let alone with a beautiful woman that they didn't know.

As the girl brought their drinks, Jareth handled the situation with grace and aplomb. He held his mug out to everyone in toast and then said loudly, "Free drinks for all!"

There was a smattering of applause and cheers which soon grew deafening. Jareth smiled at Sarah. She knew that this sort of move was excellent for morale in the kingdom and for Jareth's closeness with his subjects.

They were still receiving curious glances, but Sarah figured that that was inevitable. She ignored it and paid attention to the conversation between Jareth and Finn.

"Did you see the wench that lead us in here?" Finn asked. "She would be fun for a roll in the hay. I think I'll ask if she's up for it when she returns. As I am the Lord Chamberlain, she would be flattered, eh?"

"No, she would not, and nor are you going to try," Jareth said quietly but in a voice that held command. "Ixonia is one of my wished-aways and a good girl. One of the things I do for my wished-aways is to keep them away from the likes of you!"

Finn's face fell, as much as for the loss of the girl, as the dressing down he had just received from his cousin.

Sarah's heart leapt in her chest at the chivalry shown by Jareth. This was yet another side of him that she didn't know. She felt herself falling deeper and deeper.

At the sound of a fiddle tuning, Sarah looked up. There was an area near the bar that wasn't so much a stage, as a platform. She saw several men setting stools down. She recognized some of the instruments: fiddle, tin whistle, bodhrán drum, and several others that she did not recognize at all. There was a lovely girl up there, and Sarah suspected that she would be singing.

She started out with several beautiful, sad tunes. No one said a word as they listened to her. Then, she broke into happier pieces, pieces that asked for people to clap along, and maybe even stomp along. Later, she stepped off stage and allowed the boys in the band to wind their musical talents on their own.

Suddenly, the fiddle player stood up and asked if there was anyone there who thought that they could beat him in a fiddle challenge. Sarah's fingers literally itched. She had heard him, and while he was fair enough, there was no doubt in her mind that she was the better player. But her violin was back at the castle.

Jareth nudged her and she looked down under the table to where he was indicating. It was her violin! He looked at her, eyes asking if she wanted to try.

"I can't believe you got it here! You magicked it over, didn't you?"

He smiled, then held up one arm and in a loud voice, said, "The Lady Sarah would care to try, sir!"

People pushed the long rectangular tables together. Sarah was lifted on top of them, and the young man who challenged her jumped up there on his own. Sarah prepared her violin a bit, tightening some strings.

When both competitors were ready, the young man began. He ran a string of notes that was complex and rapid, yet, to Sarah it was simple to follow so she followed right after him. He grinned at her, and tried something harder. Sarah flew through it with no problem. It began to be clear that this beautiful young woman with the king was someone to contend with musically.

Since it seemed appropriate, she played part of Popper's _Dance of the Elves_, an incredibly fast and complex piece.

He nodded in appreciation, and then attempted the piece. He was not able to do it. He gracefully bowed out and left the table, with Sarah standing all alone.

Suddenly she became terribly nervous. All of those eyes were on her. So she did what she always did when performing. She closed her own and let her brain and her fingers do the work.

Everything about the Underground had the field of ancient Ireland to it. So those were the songs she was going to try. She started out with _Whiskey in the Ja__r, _and even though no one knew the words, everyone was clapping and stomping along. So she tried another fun piece,_Dirty Old Town__, _and realized that she had been singing and dancing as she played. 12 years of Irish Dance practice had made that easy to do. Next, she did the ballad _Black Velvet Band__. _For her final piece, she was going to do something that got mixed reviews amongst Irish people. Some loved this song, some thought it was overdone. She loved it. And she remembered granddad openly crying when he would hear it sometimes. So she started, singing as she went:

"_Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling_

_From glen to glen, and down the mountain side._

_The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,_

'_Tis you,'tis you must go and I must bide._

_But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,_

_Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,_

'_Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,_

_Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!"_

She suddenly realized that everyone in the room was singing along with her. But not the same words, not the same language. But they knew the tune exactly! She looked at Jareth, he nodded and she continued:

"_But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,_

_If I am dead, as dead I well may be,_

_You'll come and find the place where I am lying,_

_And kneel and say an Avé there for me._

_And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,_

_And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,_

_For you will bend and tell me that you love me,_

_And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me."_

She wiped a tear or two away from her eyes. This song always did that to her. When she looked up, she could see many of the people in the pub with nary a dry eye. She smiled, curtsied and Jareth and Finn helped her down from the table. There was a roar of applause, with stamping, and cheers, as she left the stage.

She was stunned. She had never performed for an audience like that before. An audience that openly responded to her music. People were coming up to kiss her hand or even to bow to her. She just couldn't stop smiling. It had been an absolutely amazing evening.

She looked over at Jareth, and he was standing there, arms crossed, looking at her so proudly. He leant over and said quietly in her ear, "That tune is probably the oldest in the world. I know there are so many different versions of the lyrics, but we all know it very well down here."

They walked home, few words between them. It seemed that everyone had suddenly grown tired and quiet. When they arrived at the castle, Finn headed off to bed, and Sarah and Jareth sat in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace of the great room.

"You were amazing tonight, love," said Jareth proudly. "I had no idea you had such talents!"

She blushed a little at that, but replied, "Well, when you grow up with a mother who is a musician, and in an extremely Irish background, you tend to learn some things." She gave a small chuckle and laid her head on his shoulder. He had reached up to the sofa behind them and pulled down a thick woven blanket. He tucked it around her bare shoulders.

"Jareth?" She looked up at him and he reached down for her chin and tilted it up slightly so that he could see her better.

He smiled at her. "Yes?"

She took a deep breath. "I've been meaning to say this for a while, and for one reason or another, I haven't. But I want you to know that I love you." He smiled down at her, still holding her pointed little chin in his hands. "Yes, I know," he said. He kissed her deeply.

He took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. "Almost all my life, women have wanted to be with me. Not for me, but because they wanted the money, and the power, that goes with it. I am so fortunate to have parents who refused to promise me in marriage to a woman or a girl just because it would create some kind of political advantage. They wanted me to be happy. They wanted me to find the right person."

"Then, so much time went by, that I honestly thought it would never happen. So I threw myself into this position. Sometimes too well, I'm afraid. And I became nothing more than a ruler, playing a role. Nothing more than only the Goblin King. A ghost in a shell."

"The only time I don't feel like a ghost is when you look at me, because when you look at me, you see me. You see me. This is me."

"You were like coming up for fresh air. It's like I was drowning and you saved me." he finished.

She gazed at him, intently. Looking deep into his eyes, making sure that he heard her, "You know I love you, in a really, really big, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, unfortunate way that makes me _hate_ you, love you. I love you."

He pulled her closer to him on the thick fur rug so that he was behind her.

He had had some thoughts as to what might happen next. He wanted her so badly it hurt. But he also wanted their first time to be perfect, and tonight, they were both exhausted. Besides, he had plans for how he wanted things to go…

They fell asleep in front of the fire, Jareth curled protectively around Sarah and Sarah holding on to his arms.

**Ixonia = IX-own-ya (barmaid and future love interest of Finn's)**

**Bodhrán drum = BOW-ran**

**A bodhrán is an Irish frame drum that is relatively flat. A goatskin head is tacked to one side. The other side is open-ended for one hand to be placed against the inside of the drum head to control the pitch and timbre. It is played with a double headed stick called a tipper.**

**What is the difference between a violin and a fiddle? Why can Sarah play folk music and classical music on the same instrument?**

**A violin is largely intended for classical music - considered by some to be more difficult than a fiddle tune.****However, it is structurally the same as a fiddle. For the most part, the difference is on the surface, fiddle music is technically less complex than classical violin (though sometimes very fast!). Many fiddle players never leave first position. But fiddling calls for great skill in producing the rhythmic and melodic lift originally intended to get people dancing and keep them that way. Even when just listening to a well-played fiddle tune, chances are we're moving our bodies somehow – tapping our feet or fingers, or nodding our heads.**

**Popper's ****Dance of the Elves**** = written in the last century by Bohemian composer and cellist David Popper, this classical piece can also be played on the violin and is known for being one of the fastest (i.e. most difficult) songs to play on the violin.**

**Whiskey in the Jar**** = The quintessential bar tune. It has an easy to follow beat, easy to follow lyrics, and is definitely one of those tunes that gets people up and moving. Did I mention that it's a drinking song?**

**Dirty Old Town**** = The song was written about Salford, Lancashire, but it became a hit when The Dubliners played it. It has since been covered by the Pogues among others. Another fun song to listen to.**

**Black Velvet Band ****= another song by The Dubliners, a sort of rollicking ballad about a young man who becomes involved with a beautiful young woman whose petty crimes eventually get **_**him**_** arrested and sent to an Australian penal colony. (Penal as in Penitentiary. Get your mind out of the gutter.)**

**Danny Boy**** = Where to begin? While some people believe that it is the most overplayed song in and about Ireland, those same people will often be caught singing along when the song is performed. Initially, the melody ****is said to have been created in the 1700s, and later became known as ****Derry Air. As of recently, however, archaeologists and musicologists have come to believe that the tune is far older. That it may in fact, be the oldest tune known to man at this time.**

**An ****English lawyer****wrote the words to the tune as we know them today. There are also dispute****s ****as to what exactly the t****une ****means.**** I am most likely to believe that it is a song that a father sings to his son who is going off to war. No matter the origins or the meaning, "Danny Boy" has still become the song of the Irish, with Irish people worldwide identifying with its words and melody. **

**A/N: this song always makes me cry, and I love it so much that I named one of my sons after it.**

***Since I cannot successfully put links in for people to hear the music, I highly suggest that you look these up on YouTube. They are beautiful to listen to, and you may find that they add to this story, as I'm hoping they will. **


	13. a Thousand Kisses Deep

"Did you say it? "I love you." "I don't ever want to live without you." "You changed my life." Did you say it? -Jareth

In the coming days, Sarah received many offers from the pub, to play there, from fiddle players who wanted lessons, and one from the beautiful dark-haired girl, whose name turned out to be Ixonia. She shyly asked Sarah if she would be willing to teach her how to dance. She had never seen the kind of Irish dancing that Sarah had been doing, and was very anxious to learn it on her own.

Sarah was more than flattered by these requests. She agreed to work with Ixonia on dance lessons, told the pub that she would stop by occasionally, but was reluctant to take the fiddle players on for lessons, as she really didn't know how much longer she would be here.

On her first night at the pub, Jareth insisted on accompanying her. Finn had come along as well, because he liked her playing, but also because he had become seriously smitten with the girl that Jareth had said he couldn't have. He was trying to change Jareth's mind and show he could be a gentleman.

Sarah's set ran as smoothly as she had hoped. She began with fun, faster pieces that were good to dance to. She herself did her Irish dance while she was playing these and sometimes singing along.

Then she finished up after a quick break with three or four slower, often sadder songs. She chose to always end with _Danny_ _Boy_ now, knowing that it was a favorite, singing it a cappella without her violin or any dancing.

After much applause, Jareth and Finn helped her down. As they went to the table, Jareth picked up an acoustical guitar Sarah had not even known that he had and went up to the tables' "stage."

Sitting comfortably with the guitar, Jareth had one knee up and the other leg hanging down off the edge of the table. He cleared his throat and addressed the audience.

"Some of you might be surprised to see me here. Honestly, I am too. But the fact of the matter is, someone that I love is here, and I'd like to take the chance to tell her."

There were excited whispers in the crowd and many eyes on Sarah, who blushed and looked down. Jareth began, and within the first few notes, Sarah knew what song this would be.

"_Saying "I love you"_

_Is not the words I want to hear from you_

_It's not that I want you_

_Not to say, but if you only knew how easy – "_

Finn had hopped up and was sitting next to Jareth, singing harmony. Sarah did not know that any of this was coming.

"_It would be to show me how you feel_

_More than words_

_Is all you have to do to make it real_

_Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me_

_'Cause I'd already know_

_What would you do if my heart was torn in two_

_More than words to show you feel_

_That your love for me is real_

_What would you say if I took those words away_

_Then you couldn't make things new_

_Just by saying "I love you"_

_More than words_

_Now but I've tried to talk to you_

_And make you understand_

_All you have to do is close your eyes_

_And just reach out your hands_

_And touch me_

_Hold me close, don't ever let me go_

_More than words_

_Is all I ever needed you to show_

_Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me_

_'Cause I'd already know_

_What would you do if my heart was torn in two_

_More than words to show you feel_

_That your love for me is real_

_What would you say if I took those words away_

_When you couldn't make things new_

_Just by saying "I love you"_

_More than __words."_

She was stunned. She remembered that Jareth had a wonderful range - that he could do an incredible falsetto as well as his usual deep voice. Finn was a surprise. The two of them looked and sounded like brothers up there, attaining the harmonies that only family voices can create.

There was so something so incredibly sexy about a man with a guitar. Let alone a man singing to you with a guitar. Let alone Jareth singing to you with a guitar.

The crowd went wild. Not only had they never, ever had royalty sing for them before, but it was an absolutely beautiful and strange tune that they had never heard before. Being a part of such a touching moment between two people like this was incredibly moving for the crowd. Jareth and Finn just sat up there for a minute, smiling at Sarah.

They walked home, holding hands. Finn was carrying the instruments and muttering something about being a roadie. Sarah had to laugh, because she had no idea how he had learned that term.

When they got to the castle, Jareth invited her out to the garden. There was a bottle of wine and two crystal glasses sitting on the table, as well as a few candles.

There was also a large blanket along with many large pillows, spread on the soft grass nearby. Sarah had a seat at the table while Jareth poured the wine.

"Thank you for singing _"More than Words". _I absolutely love that song. How did you know it? It just came out! And it was so beautiful…"

Jareth took a sip from his glass as he handed the other to Sarah. "I'm full of surprises," he smiled at her.

"And to get Finn to sing harmony with you like that! You two sounded incredible!"

"Well, that one surprised me too," he said, modestly. "I had no idea that he liked to sing, or that his voice was any good. So we were lucky on that one."

"Let's have a seat over there," he indicated the blanket on the grass. Sarah joined him and they both lay back resting on their elbows. "One thing," Jareth began, "You may not know about me is that I like to do Celestial Navigation."

She stared at him. Celestial Navigation? Navigating by the stars? "Why?"

"For fun," he said, as if everyone would do it. Sarah, who knew a bit about sailing and navigation herself knew how difficult this was. The idea of doing it "for fun" as he put it stunned her. It would be like saying people did astrophysics as a "hobby."

"Here," he explained, taking her wine glass and setting it on the grass. "While this isn't Celestial Navigation it does involve stars. I want you to look where I am pointing." She did, and then he said, "Now put your finger next to mine. See that star?" She nodded yes.

"That's The Eastern Star. Like everything above the equator Aboveground, with your North Star, everything in the Otherworld sort of revolves around this star. It's the perfect navigation tool. If you're ever lost, find this big bright star, and it will lead you east. Always."

She looked at his long delicate fingers pointing toward the stars. She saw the moonlight defining his high cheekbones. She captured his excitement at identifying this star.

She was falling deeper and deeper in love with this man all the time. Every time she thought she knew him, he surprised her with something new.

"Now," he said, taking her finger and pointing it at another nearby star. "See that one? That's the second star in the constellation that I'm trying to show you." Suddenly a magical line between the two stars lit up, a bright neon purple.

Sarah made a little noise of surprise and delight. "Did you do that?" When she looked over at him, he was smiling.

"It helps to see the entire constellation," he said." He held her finger again and moved it upwards. "This is the next point in our constellation." Within seconds, another purple line appeared between those two stars as well.

They continued this until they had the outline of a man, lying on the ground.

"Now that's Diarmuid, hero of one of Ireland's greatest love stories."

When they were almost done outlining a second figure, a woman, next to the first, Jareth began telling a story. "And this is Grainné, the most beautiful woman in Ireland, she was also the daughter of Cormac MacAirt, the High King of Ireland. Grainné was courted by Ireland's most eligible Princes and Chieftains, including the now aging chief Fionn macCumhaill was who wanted the young maid as his second wife."

"He asked her to marry him, she agreed and a great feast was set up to celebrate the newly engaged couple. But on that night Grainné met Diarmuid, one of Fionn's best warriors, and it was love at first sight! Grainné was prepared to go to any lengths to get her man and drugged the entire party, apart from Diarmuid."

"With Diarmuid all to herself, Grainné confessed her love for him, but Diarmuid backed off, as he was loyal to his leader Fionn. But Grainné wasn't taking no for an answer, so she put a spell on him and he fell in love with her."

It seemed to Sarah that Jareth's Cambridge accent was giving way to something much older. An ancient Irish one, perhaps? He looked over at her and smiled.

"The two ran off together, hotly pursued by a very angry Fionn and his men. All across Ireland the eloping couple ran and all across Ireland there are caves, trees and all kinds of nooks and crannies, under or inside of which, local legend has it that Diarmuid and Grainné lay together and hid."

"After long years on the run, Grainné fell pregnant with Diarmuid's child, but fate was about to catch up with them. One day out in the wilderness, with Fionn and his men closing in, Diarmuid and Grainné came across the heath of Benbulben in County Sligo, where a giant boar confronted them. This was bad news for Diarmuid, whom legend had told that the only living creature that could harm him, was a wild boar."

"As the boar charged, Diarmuid, protecting his heavily pregnant lover, wrestled it to the ground in a fight to the death. The warrior killed the boar with his sword, but not before the boar had gored Diarmuid, fatally wounding him."

"As Fionn and his men came upon their long sought quarry, he found Diarmuid dying in a heavily pregnant Grainné's arms. A despairing Grainné knew she had just one chance to save her lover. She implored Fionn to show mercy and save his former friend by curing Diarmuid with a drink of water cupped by his magical hands. But Fionn refused, still hurt that his best friend had eloped with his betrothed."

"With Diarmuid dying, Fionn's men begged him to help this once great warrior to live. But still Fionn refused. It was only when Fionn's son Oisin challenged his father and threatened to kill him that Fionn agreed to help Diarmuid. But it was too late, before Fionn had got the water, Diarmuid had died."

"And now, there they are." He pointed. "The two lovers are finally safely together in the night sky."

"That was beautiful, but so sad," said Sarah, looking up and running her finger along the edge of her glass.

"It's one of the most famous tragic love stories we have," said Jareth. "Although, come to think of it, I don't think we have any love stories that are not tragic."

He grinned. "Not that ours will be."

They lay back down, with Sarah's head on Jareth's chest. They looked up at the beautiful night sky, and fireflies began to twinkle in the grass all around them.

"This is perfect," sighed Sarah.

"Not as perfect as it's going to be," promised Jareth.

He stood up, offering Sarah his hand to help her rise. Then he lead her into the castle to his room. Her heart had started thumping when she saw which room they were going to. When he opened the doors it was as if the entire room was aflame. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny candles everywhere were burning twinkling lights. Pink rose petals were scattered everywhere on the floor and on the bed.

She looked at Jareth. "Are the rose petals too much?" He asked. "I wasn't sure but I thought, since I'd given you a pink rose the other day…"

She walked up to him, tiptoed up, and grabbed the back of his neck for a slow, sensuous kiss, silencing him.

She pushed him backwards, until he was sitting on the foot of the bed and she was standing between his knees.

She gently ran her fingers down the planes of his face. His face, with the cut jaw, high cheekbones, and perfect skin. He was almost pretty, she thought.

He pulled her toward him, unable to resist her heat and his need. As he kissed and sucked on her neck, she threw it back in ecstasy. A mew was building in her throat. He worked his way down from her throat to her chest to the delicate little cleft between her breasts. Reaching behind her, he quickly undid the lacing in back and pulled it off.

He could see her breasts through her thin chemise. Pulling it down, he finally saw her breasts, round and perfect, and he became incredibly hard and needful.

He bent his head to them, soft kisses all around, until he reached her rosy nipples. Taking one gently in his mouth, he heard her gasp and arch her back toward him. He reached behind her with one arm and pulled her toward him, devouring her breast. He nibbled, and sucked, and pulled gently, and then moved to the second one. Sarah was almost sobbing with desire by now.

Her center was so hot and wanting him so much. He took his time, sucking at her nipple, with the growl in the back of his throat. Then he began kissing her up to her jawline and claimed her mouth with incredible heat and passion. He thrust his tongue into hers, feeling the hot velvet softness, how she tasted slightly of peaches. Her tongue was stroking the underside of his, she had dug her fingers into the hair behind his head and was pulling him toward her.

Now.

This was what she had been waiting for for so many years. She could not believe it was actually happening. Her mind had lost all thoughts of space and time. All she knew was that she had to have him now.

"Jareth!"

He had gone back to kissing her breasts. He looked up breathlessly into her eyes. "Yes, love?"

"I need you. I need you so much. Please…"

Jareth thrust Sarah's skirt out of the way.

Thank the gods, he thought, before his hands slipped over lace, over a curved, tight bottom, to draw her against his aching hardness and then all he thought was 'Oh, good gods.'

Perfect, his hand cupped her perfectly, pressed her against the rigid length beneath his tights.

He slid his hand over one curved hip, over the smooth skin, slipped the lace down over it. Down, his fingers sliding between her thighs. She jumped, twitched. Her hips lifted to his touch as his fingers sifted between those dark curls. Sliding his hand over to the other hip, he drew the lace away as she lifted her hips to let him. There was nothing between them now but his own clothing. He pulled her against his hardness, pressed it into her hip.

It had been so long, Sarah craved, needed to be touched by him….

His hand slipped between her thighs and she cried out on a half sob of pleasure as he touched delicate, aching flesh.

All Sarah could feel was his touch, all she knew was the heat that moved through her, the need. She was speechless, nearly mindless. He tugged down at her dress, and pulled it off roughly.

All that she was wearing now were her stockings. Jareth was still wearing his poet's shirt, boots and tights. He pulled the boots off roughly, discarding them on the floor. He knelt up over her, pulled his shirt over his head and threw it into a corner. Then he removed his tights and Sarah could see that reality was so much better than her imagination. His glorious length, hard and slightly curved up. He threw her legs around him and looked down at her. Her soft, aching core was open to him now. In a husky voice, he asked, "Are you sure?"

She exhaled deeply and shook her head yes. "If I can't have you right now…"

With strength and control he slowly lowered himself into her. When he felt how wet she was for him, it was all he could do to keep it slow. Slowly in and slowly out, but not all the way in. Not yet.

She had her legs wrapped around his hips, and her arms around his back. She kept running her hands up and down the sinewy muscles of his back.

This entire time they had not broken eye contact. It was one of the most erotic things she had ever done. He wanted to look into her eyes the entire time. No one had ever done that. With every thrust, he watched her. He watched her neck arch, her back arc, the gasps she was taking. She stared into those beautiful eyes of his. It was as though he wanted to gauge every action he was taking with her. She had never had a lover so tender and responsive.

Suddenly he needed to bury himself fully inside of her. Getting up again on his knees, her legs slid down so he was holding them in his elbows. This position allowed him even deeper access to her beautiful female depths. He could see the soft flesh between her legs, and how red and swollen it had become with need.

He drew back, almost outside of her and then plunged inward into her as far as he could go. She screamed. He was absolutely claiming her. It would be no one, no one who could ever touch her like this. He drove in again and she sobbed with desire. Pulling almost out he kept his eyes on her has she screamed out his name. "Jareth! Oh, my God! Jareth!"

He looked down at his love. Her beautiful green eyes. The dark eyebrows, beautiful dark hair. All thoughts of going slowly had long ago left his head. He needed to take her now and swiftly.

As he drove into her, over and over again, she met each thrust with her hips. As he could feel himself about to release, she arched again and pulled his head down to her neck. Everything that he had spilled into her body, filling her. Years of waiting and wanting. "Sarah, Sarah, my Sarah ….." he murmured into her neck.

Then he could feel her coming as well, as her muscles inside grasped at him, finally fluttering to a stop.

He raised his head to look at her, and found her eyes full of tears. "Darling, is something wrong? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. And she could barely speak, her voice so quiet and rasped, "I love you so much. That was absolutely perfect."

"I can't think about anything or anybody but you and I can't sleep. I can't breathe. And I love you. I just, I love you all the time, every minute of every day."

He planned to make love to her all night. Longer, slower this time. For now, though, he gathered her in his arms and they both slept.

**More Than Words****, 1991 (The year this story takes place) by the funk rockers Extreme. It was very unusual for this hard-core group to come up with a ballad like this, but it took off and hit the charts immediately. The harmonies in it are beautiful. Do yourself a favor and check this out on YouTube!**

**Diarmuid = ****According to his story, s****et ****in the 2nd to 4th century, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne**** is the love of Grainné, and ****according ****to the story****, a**** skilled warrior and a well-liked and valued member of the Fianna who single-handedly killed 3****400 Warriors in a battle, before being killed by a boar. Pronounced: (DEER-mid)**

**Grainné = daughter of Cormac mac Airt in the Fenian (last) Cycle of Irish mythology. She is recorded in the 17th-century tale ****The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne,**** which tells of her betrothal to Fionn mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna, and her subsequent elopement with Fionn's warrior Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Pronounced: (Gr-AW-née-ya)**

**Fionn mac Cumhaill = Fionn mac Cumhaill (sometimes transcribed in English as MacCool or MacCoul) was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, occurring also in the mythologies of Scotland and the Isle of Man. Pronounced: (Finn Mac COOL)**


	14. All Good Things

"After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a grown-up." – Jareth

They had been practicing overdowns all morning. An overdown is one of the most picturesque and gravity defying movements in Irish dance. The dancer extends one leg straight out in front, at hip height or higher and uses the other leg to jump up. The jumping leg then tucks in underneath the dancer and kicks out to finish. There are different variations of the exact location of the tucked leg.

Sarah was exhausted. This particular dance practice with Ixonia had taken everything out of her. She headed into their bedroom, and flopped on the bed. Ixonia flopped down next to her. They had become good friends by now and Sarah liked having another woman to talk to. Spam was sweet, certainly, but it just wasn't the same.

Both she and Ixonia had been practicing for almost a month now, almost the same amount of time she had been in the Underground. She could feel her calf muscles starting to come back and harden up. She was also incredibly out of breath and threw her arm over her forehead.

Ixonia was breathing heavily as well. They both just lay there for a moment. This was one of the places that they went when they wanted privacy and to talk.

"So do you still have a place Aboveground then?" Ixonia asked.

"Yes," sighed Sarah, "I'm not missing any time though, because Jareth was able to stop it." Ixonia nodded.

"But," Sarah said, "I will have to go back soon. I have to finish university, and I have some family I want to see, and a friend that I miss."

"How's your apprenticeship going?" Sarah asked.

Ixonia replied, "I am starting slowly with the herbalist, and soon I will be tutored by the surgeon that you have hired. I believe there are about 10 of us in the kingdom that will receive this training, yes?" She wanted, more than anything, to get out of the pub and start learning how to become not just a healer but a surgeon. Sarah had vowed she would do whatever she could to make that happen.

"You know," Sarah said, "When I was about 13, I had my tonsils removed. I asked the doctor if I could keep them in a jar."

Ixonia stared at her with curiosity. "Well, did he?"

"No." said Sarah. "He said they had to send them to some lab or something. Personally I think a jar with one of your body parts in it would be an awesome thing to have around." They both started laughing at that.

"Well," promised Ixonia, "If I'm ever able to learn surgery, the way we're hoping I can, you may have all the organs in a jar."

Sarah got up on one elbow and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "What kind of organs?" This set off peals of screaming and laughter.

Jareth could hear those two all the way from the library. He headed to the bedroom. "All right," he asked, "What's so funny?" Sarah whispered the word "organs" to Ixonia. They both absolutely lost it and started rolling on the bed with laughter.

He shook his head and walked away. He passed Finn, who was looking curiously at the bedroom door. "Don't bother," Jareth said. "They're in one of those moods, hanging about on _my_ bed. Again."

Finn ignored him and went in anyway. He had been wooing Ixonia and trying to convince her that he was a gentleman worth seeing.

He walked over to Sarah's side, removed his boots, and said, "Shove over." She did, and he got on top of the bed with them, but with his head on the other side of the bed, near their feet.

Sarah stretched, looked up at the ceiling and put her feet in Finbar's lap. "Make yourself useful and give me a foot rub." He began massaging Sarah's feet – they were used to this routine, and these conversations.

"So." he said. "What are we complaining about today?"

"Nothing really,"'replied Ixonia. "Just a lack of organs."

Sarah cackled gleefully. "You said organs!" Both women broke into laughter again, leaving Finn in a conundrum. He had about a dozen comebacks, but he reminded himself that he was trying to be gentlemanly.

He sighed. " I have no response for that."

"Yes you do," replied Sarah. "You're just trying to reinvent yourself." She grinned. "Come on. You have to admit it's funny."

"I _am_ laughing, just not externally," said Finn.

Ixonia looked confused, so Sarah explained, "Finn's working on self-improvement." She didn't want to give away Finn's plans, so she said no more than that.

"You know what I hate?" Sarah began. "The way men don't tell you how they really feel about you until it's almost too late."

"I wouldn't know," complained Ixonia. "Working in the pub, all I meet are rogues, for the most part."

Finn ventured, "Perhaps the quality men you meet in pubs are just too dazzled by your beauty to approach you. Oof!" Sarah had kicked him in the stomach.

"Like _that's_ not corny," she said. "Any woman with half a brain would see _that_ for the slop it was."

Said Ixonia, "I don't know. It is certainly better than anything I've heard so far."

"You're setting your bar too low, advised Sarah. "You should expect more of a man than flowery words."

Finn twisted her toe. Sarah removed her feet, for safety's sake. "You know what I really hate," began Finn, changing the subject, "Is when you're dunking your biscuits in your tea and suddenly half of one falls in!"

The girls nodded in assent. "Or," added Ixonia, "when your tea goes cold."

"Stepping in horse apples!" cried Finn.

Screams of laughter.

"Worms in your apples!"

"Worms in the Labyrinth that Jareth has put there to give me wrong directions!"

"He is a tricky bastard," agreed Finn.

"_Who_ is a tricky bastard?" Jareth was standing in the doorway, scowling and trying to look as intimidating as possible. It wasn't working on these three, however.

"Oh, look! The tricky bastard himself has arrived!" Finn smirked.

"I can hear all of you all the way to the throne room now. I should send goblins after you, or just bog the lot of you!"

"Oooh. The big, scary Goblin King is going to bog me!" Sarah taunted.

Jareth rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "And this is the kind of respect that I get."

He jumped on Sarah and began tickling her, mercilessly. She was horribly ticklish. She could barely stop laughing in order to ask him to stop, but he wouldn't. "What's that word again?" He asked, "The one where are you tell someone you give up?" He smiled down at her.

"Uncle!" she squeaked.

"Didn't quite catch that. What was it again?" He asked, still tickling her.

"It's UNCLE!" she gasped.

Jareth stopped, and leaned back with a self-satisfied grin on his face. "That will teach you to disrespect your king!"

"_Now_ if you don't mind, I am going to be taking the Lady Sarah down the hall to teach her a lesson." Feeling Sarah squirm under his hands had gotten him thinking some very delicious thoughts. He picked Sarah up and threw her over his shoulder, striding out of the room. She had no complaints.

"Well, that's it, I guess," said Finn. Both he and Ixonia looked at one another. "I don't suppose you'd want to rub my feet, would you?" he asked.

She kicked him in the stomach.

After an entire afternoon of enjoying one another in bed, Sarah curled up next to Jareth. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing her on the top of her head.

Sarah reminded herself to have Jareth get to work on obtaining showers, at least in the castle. Nowhere in the Underground were there any showers, just baths. Sometimes Sarah wanted the refreshing convenience of a shower, so those would have to get installed soon.

Unless, of course, she was never asked back.

"Jareth,"she started,"I really hate to say this, but I am going to need to get back Above soon. I have school to finish and get out of the way, and graduation, and a few other things I'd like to take care of. Plus I haven't seen Patrick in forever."

Jareth gave a heavy sigh. He had been dreading this day. "When would you like me to take you, love?"

Sarah's heart was sinking. She really, really did not want to go. But that little voice of obligation inside of her kept telling her to get those other things finished and out of the way.

"How about in a day or two?" She asked. "I'd really rather not go at all, but I have worked too hard at school to not graduate now. Plus there are some other things I need to take care of," she added. Plus, she told herself, as lovely as it had been down here, Jareth had said nothing about inviting her to stay permanently. She couldn't count on that. So she could not let things Above go to hell while she waited for an invitation that might never come.

He led out another deep breath between pursed lips. "Bugger all," he sighed. "Well, let's make the most of things while you're still here." He crawled on top of her and begin kissing her neck. She murmured in agreement and wrapped herself around him.


	15. Fix You

"Pain, you just have to fight through, because the truth is you can't outrun it, and life always makes more."

– Jareth

Whirling into that gold spiral, they arrived in Sarah's kitchen within seconds. She looked around. It felt as if she had lived an entire lifetime down there, and she couldn't believe that nothing had changed right here, in this kitchen.

Everything was right where she left it, waiting for her to finish. Jareth pointed at the clock and it began to tick again. She had loved California when she got here. Loved the watery sunshine, the unusual and beautiful plants and flowers. She had loved her apartment, small and scrubby as it was.

But now everything seemed so flat. She felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz coming home to Kansas. Where everything in her eyes had been bright and colorful, suddenly she was back home, where it was all black and white.

She already wanted to go back. To her friends, to the castle, the people, and most of all, Jareth. She turned around and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"I don't want to leave you," she said.

He tilted his head and gave her a slight smile. "It's not forever, love."

"And you'll come up sometimes, right?" "Yes," he replied. Handing her her own crystal. "You know how to use this." She took it and just looked at him - only a few weeks - but it was already beginning to feel like forever.

Jareth looked at her sadly. He wondered if, now that she were here, that she would choose to stay. Choose her family and friends. Choose the world that she was used to. He wondered if, once again, he was going to lose her.

Suddenly the phone rang, startling both of them. They both looked at one another, seemingly forgetting what to do. Then it rang again. Sarah reached for it and picked it up.

She listened, gave very quiet answers and hung up in less than two minutes. When she was done, she turned to Jareth with tears standing in her eyes.

"It's my granddad. That was my dad on the phone. My grandad - he's dying. He only has a short time left. I have to go see him."

Her words all seemed short and robotic. She looked at Jareth as if he had answers. As if she didn't know what to do.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

She nodded yes.

"How do you want to get there? It's in Connecticut right? Do you want me to take us?"

She nodded yes to everything.

She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder and waited.

When they got to Grandad's house, he was sitting in his favorite easy chair in the living room. Sarah looked around for a hospital bed. It was as if Grandad could read her mind.

"No, there's no bloody hospital bed. I won't allow it. Once you're in one of those, you may as well give up and die anyway."

"Sarah – mine!" He held out his arms and Sarah ran to give him a long, huge hug. She could feel his bones through his pajamas, and he looked nothing like the jolly, robust man he had been. "I love you so much and forever, a stóre," he whispered to her, partly in in Irish.

Shaking, he held her arms away from him, still holding onto them. "And are you going to introduce me to your young man, then?"

Jareth stepped forward, offering his hand for a handshake. "Jareth O'Rourke, Sir."

"Ah. Old family. Royal family – Kildare. And Ulster, I believe. Older than us Fitzgeralds, although we had our share of royalty as well." He reached for Jareth's hand. The old man's hands were shaky and Jareth could feel the pronounced bones. His eyes were cloudy with cataracts, but once he saw Jareth up close, he froze.

He continued to grip Jareth's hand, with a strength that surprised Jareth for such a sick, old man.

"I know what you are," he said, shocked and appalled. In a low voice that Sarah could not hear, "I thought your kind were long gone. You were driven out!"

Jareth gently withdrew his hand, staring at the old man. How could he know?

There was a tense silence.

"Sarah – mine," her grandfather tried to keep his voice normal."I could go for a spot of tea. And would you mind waiting in the kitchen while I have a word with your young man?" He smiled at her.

Sarah looked up into Jareth's face. He nodded, briefly, as if to say 'It's all right, go along.'

After she had left, her Grandad peered closely at Jareth's face. "You're Fae." He said without question.

"Yes."

"I know your kind. You can be generous and kind, or capricious and cruel." He gave Jareth a hard look. "So which are you?"

Jareth knew better than to lie to the old man. "Sir, I can be both, honestly. But knowing your granddaughter has changed me, for the better. I would never hurt her. Every day, I seek to become a better man. A man worthy of Sarah."

The old man sighed deeply. "And does she know what you are? Is she aware of what she's getting into, loving someone like you?"

Jareth flinched inwardly. He was not used to being spoken to this way, let alone being questioned about his heritage. But this was Sarah's grandfather, a man she loved very much, more than her own father. He would do everything he could to win the old man over.

"Sir, what can I do to assure you that my intentions are genuine?"

"Let me speak to my granddaughter. You may send her in now, but I wish to speak to her privately."

He headed into the kitchen. Sarah asked him, "What was that all about?"

Jareth nodded his head toward the living room. "He wants to speak to you now," was all he said.

Looking at Jareth questioningly over her shoulder, Sarah headed back to the living room.

"A stór," he called her again. In Irish, this meant 'my treasure.'

"Have a seat. We are going to have a difficult conversation."

She just looked at him, expectantly.

"Your young man is Fae." He stated flatly. He looked intently into her face. "Are you aware of this, and what this means?"

How on earth could he know? Jareth traveled freely Aboveground and no one had been the wiser. Was it Grandad's ancient heritage?

She reached over and clasped his hand. "Yes, Grandad, I know exactly what he is. I have even been to the Underground with him. And I know that he is trying very hard to be a good man. I love him."

"And if you have a future together? Have you thought of that? Where would you live?"

"He is the Goblin King, Grandad. I doubt that he would leave that to live here. As for me, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Honestly, we haven't discussed it much yet."

Grandad's lips were grim and flat. He reached out to a shaky hand and placed it gently to Sarah's face. "Sarah – mine," he said, "You have always been wise. Even as a child, you have been wise beyond your years. If this is what you want, I'm going to trust that you know what is best for you. I admit that this is not easy for me. But I love you, I trust you, and knowing you, there is nothing that I can do to change your mind. I believe your mother would agree with me."

"I'm sorry, but I'm becoming quite tired. Would you bring Jareth in and we can say our goodbyes?"

Tears begin to prickle behind her eyes. This was most likely the last goodbye they would ever have.

She headed into the kitchen, reached for Jareth's hand, and said, "We're going now. To say our goodbyes."

As Jareth shook Grandad's hand, Grandad whispered to him, "Please don't hurt her. Please take care of her." Jareth nodded and Sarah approached her grandfather for another long hug. She was crying openly now.

"What's this?" He said, patting her on the back. "You know there's no such thing as goodbye. I believe it was Paul McCartney who always said 'I'll see you later.' Trust me, I will always be a part of your life, Sarah – mine."

"Go on now. Let an old man have his rest." Jareth held her hand and led her out the door, Sarah looking backwards the entire time and giving her grandfather small waves as she went.

Jareth had ordered a rental car to be dropped off in front of granddad's house. They were going to pick up Toby for an afternoon outing. They had decided that it only made sense that Sarah would drive. She opened the car, and they both got in.

Once they were in the car, Sarah let loose all of the tears and grief that she had been holding in. She was sobbing so hard she could hardly breathe. Jareth tried to do what he could to comfort her. He reached over to hug her and she shook him away. Tears were running down her face and falling onto her sweater. She started to bang on the steering wheel with her fists. "It's not fair! It's not fucking fair!"

"No, it's not, love." He felt like he had a ball the size of an orange in his throat. Humans were so delicate and short-lived. And they experienced pain over loss unlike any one of his people. Just watching her grief was crushing his chest. "You are not alone," he said. "You are not alone. You are not alone," he kept repeating. She let him gather her into his arms and grieved.


	16. Without You

"Change … we don't like it, we fear it. But we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change, or we get left behind. It hurts to grow. Anybody who tells you it doesn't, is lying. But here's the truth: Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes, change is good. Sometimes, change is … everything " – Jareth

After taking Sarah back to her apartment, Jareth went home. With her gone, it already seemed as though things were quieter and without as much color. For one thing, she had loved working in the gardens, even though he told her he had goblins to do that, she insisted and said that she found it helped her relax and that she really enjoyed it. And there were always flowers all over the castle - even little tiny vases all over the castle and on almost every shelf, and a huge beautiful vase in the front room that led to the front door.

Finn and Ixonia were becoming closer now, although Jareth still kept a close eye on Finn's behavior. Little Spam walked around looking very depressed. She kept saying how much she missed Lady Sarah.

Jareth tried to continue with all of his business. Working with contractors to continue to repair the castle. Meeting with leaders of other kingdoms for diplomacy and other reasons, interviewing people that would come Underground to teach some of the vital things that they would need and making improvements that Sarah had suggested.

Jareth's idea to overhaul the university system was a huge one; and it took a huge amount of time. It was good though, as it kept him busy. It was the quiet times that got to him. Those quiet times when that little voice in his head starts whispering negative things. Things like, 'she's not coming back, why would she want to come back? She's got so much more out there.' When he began to feel like that or hear those voices he immediately set about doing something that would keep his mind off of it.

The townspeople, the Goblin City residents, and others all seemed disappointed when they saw Jareth at the marketplace, or the pub, without Sarah. He continued to force himself to get out amongst people, as he knew Sarah would've approved. When people heard that she gone back above, their first worry was that she would not want to return. They would give Jareth this sort of pitying look, which he hated.

Even the Labyrinth seemed to feel that something necessary was missing. Walls started to crumble for no apparent reason in many different places. Creatures that lived there begin disappearing. The boxwood hedge began to turn brown.

Unsurprisingly, Sarah's grandfather passed away. Jareth was Aboveground as soon as he knew, to hold her and be whatever she needed him to be. With him around, she felt stronger and more positive.

They attended the funeral, Jareth meeting the rest of her family for the first time. Karen was the first to notice that Jareth's eyes were the same as Toby's. Jareth had suggested to Sarah that she reach out to her father to offer forgiveness – to begin healing. It was a start.

They turned down Sarah's father's offer to stay over. He didn't know that she and Jareth could travel anywhere they wanted within seconds, and Sarah could not bear to be anywhere near the house or her former hometown.

As he removed his black suit that evening, and Sarah removed her black dress, Jareth thought about grieving traditions throughout the world. It seemed that most of Europe and America saw death as something dark and depressing, somber. Others in the world celebrated it, seeing it as just a transition, getting loved ones together, sharing memories, even wearing bright colors. These were the kinds of traditions that were held in the Underground.

Because of their connection, Jareth and Sarah could still feel the others' emotions, even from that far away. Talking to one another over the span of that sort of distance did not seem to work, so they had both set aside time at 7 PM every night to talk to one another through the crystals.

At first, the idea was that Jareth would come to see her and spend the night once a week. That way Sarah would have an easier time explaining things to her roommate, and Jareth would get the rest that he needed to be able to work the next day.

The first time that he had come, he appeared in Sarah's bedroom, as they had decided. She was so thrilled to see him that she was all over him. Running her hands through his hair, kissing his face and neck, even wrapping her arms and legs around him.

They spoke of the kingdom and of the changes happening. It sounded wonderful to Sarah, like such an exciting time to be there. Jareth thought to himself that that would've been true, had she been there. He did not tell her about the seemingly grey cloud that was hanging In his thoughts and even a great deal of the kingdom because of her absence.

They spoke of her last semester at Stanford, and how her classes were progressing. Truth be told, they were not going as well as usual, because she was allowing herself to become distracted and depressed. At this point however, she really didn't care, because her overall GPA was extremely high and school was almost over. Graduation was coming up, but Sarah really did not want to attend.

The elephant in the living room, however, was Sarah's return to the Underground. She had decided rather early on that she wanted to go back, but Jareth had yet to say anything about it. The doubt and uncertainty began to wear away at her happiness. She could feel the black dog coming back.

Jareth wanted her back so very badly, but was afraid to ask, for fear that she would turn him down, again. They began a downward spiral together, each feeling as though the other did not wish to be with them. Both of them were feeling rejected and bitter, and this was affecting their visits. What had started out as a small worry became bigger and more ominous by the day.

Finn asked Jareth about it.

"Sarah's graduation is coming up soon, I believe. Halfway through June, correct?"

"Yes. I'd rather not get into that right now. I have too much to do."

Finn frowned. This did not sound like Jareth. Normally, talking about Sarah made his eyes light up and put a smile on his face.

"She'll be coming back after that, right? Have you two spoken about that yet?"

"No." Jareth slammed the cover of the book he was reading down.

"And it is not a conversation I wish to have. Initially, I thought that she couldn't wait to return. Now, however, it looks as though she's re-acclimating to her life Aboveground. She has already had several job offers, including one in Switzerland. It seems as though life is suddenly opening up for her, and I don't want to get in the way of that. In addition, you know that I have asked her three times to stay with me here, and I have been turned down every time. I cannot take that happening again."

"Cousin, that was over five years ago. She was a completely different person then, the situation was different then. I don't think that you're seeing things clearly here."

"Finn, _this_ is not a conversation I wish to have, either. Please close the door on your way out." As he was leaving, a small goblin with a tray of cheeses and bread went into Jareth's study. "Earwax!" snapped Jareth. "I don't believe I gave you permission to enter without knocking!"

Finn was concerned. Sarah had brought his cousin to life. She had changed him in ways that he could not believe. She had changed the way the kingdom was being run. She had changed life within the castle. He could not believe that she wouldn't return. And he couldn't believe that Jareth would throw all of that away for such a foolish reason.

That next week was awful for everyone in the castle. Jareth was kicking goblins left and right, he growled at Finn, snapped at Ixonia and then, when he was in his office with the door shut, they could hear him throwing things about.

Finn, in particular, was very worried about Jareth. Having grown up with him, they were almost like brothers. He could imagine what he must be going through. And on the other side of the spectrum, his relationship with Ixonia was taking off and going incredibly well. Finn tried not to rub this in Jareth's face, however.

On the afternoon that Jareth was was set to visit Sarah above, Finn and Ixonia had decided to do an intervention. Because Ixonia did not know Jareth as well, she leaned against the wall, hands behind her back. Finn approached Jareth, fully expecting to have to duck something thrown at his head.

Jareth was at his desk. Finn approached him. "Cousin," he said, "I have something I need to say to you." Jareth grunted at him.

"You are giving up the fight before it's even started. You're throwing away the love of your life because you're afraid of getting your feelings hurt. That's ridiculous. The Jareth that I knew would never be so foolish. And," he paused,

"There's just one piece of advice I can give you, and it's this; when there's something you really want, fight for it, don't give up no matter how hopeless it seems. And when you've lost hope, ask yourself, 10 years from now, if you're going to wish you gave it just one more shot because the best things in life, they don't come free."

Feeling good about his speech, but still afraid of Jareth's reaction, Finn stood still and just looked at him. Jareth stared back.

Jareth's face had softened. Then he said to Finn, "Thank you." That was it. Finn and Ixonia quietly left the room, closing the door behind them.

Graduation was coming up within a week. Her father had bought plane tickets for everyone to come out and see her. She had been given her cap and gown already. She had been given her the extra cords to wear to mark her Dean's list status and her Summa cum laude award.

Alicia, her roommate, had already taped the letter 'H' to the top of Sarah's mortar board. Her last name was Waters, and all of the students whose names began with the letter 'W' were going to spell out "WE ARE OUT OF HERE!" on the back of their caps for the audience to see.

She felt now that she really ought to go, in spite of her feelings. She didn't ask Jareth to attend, however. Things with them seemed to be going downhill, it was breaking her heart, and she didn't think that he might come, anyway.

A few days before graduation, there was a knock at the door. Sarah answered it, and found a grinning Patrick standing in the hallway.

"Sare-Bear!" He cried, picking her up and swinging her around in a huge hug. Sarah had never been so happy to see someone.

"Oh my God! What are you doing here? I can't believe you're here!"

He was carrying a small luggage bag. He brought into the living room and set it down. "Do you mind if I crash on your couch for a day, hon?" He asked.

"Absolutely not. 'Mi sofa es tu sofa,' " she grinned.

"We have some catching up to do, Sare! And I brought…." Here he brought out a big bottle of tequila and a lime.

He tossed her the lime, and said, "And I'm sure you must have salt, right? Or is Alicia still sprinkling it underneath all the windows and doors?"

As she sensed he was going to throw that lime, she turned around and caught it neatly behind her back. "Whoa!" said Patrick. "Still the little athlete!"

She gave him the first genuine smile she had had in weeks. "No, we still have salt. She just buys extra now." She brought small glasses, a cutting board, a knife and the salt into the living room, where they sat on the floor in front of the coffee table.

"So what are you doing in Cali?" She asked.

"Pride Fest is this week! And I get to be here for the whole thing this time!"

"That's right! I had forgotten that." Sarah and Patrick usually talked or wrote about every six months, but when they did, it was as though no time had passed. He was her absolute best friend. And when he came out of the closet, she was his number one supporter. It had not been easy for him in their small town.

"You're more than welcome to stay here," said Sarah. But San Francisco is a ways from here. It'll take you at least a couple of hours, depending upon traffic."

"Nah", he said, finishing his first shot. "I'm staying with friends in the city, but since I'm in California, I had to see you first!"

"To Pride Fest!" said Sarah, toasting Patrick. They clinked glasses.

"To San Francisco!" Patrick toasted back.

"To getting out of Connecticut," cheered Sarah.

"Amen to that, sister!" smiled Patrick.

"To my new boyfriend Brian!" Clinked Patrick.

"Boys suck!" cried Sarah. Suddenly the game was over.

Patrick looked at her with concern. "Wait a minute, what's going on?"

Having had four shots in quick succession, and not being much of a drinker, Sarah's brain was a little fuzzy. She held up her hand – "Wait a minute. I'll tell you in a minute."

She did another shot. "What I have to tell you is going to sound crazy, but it's not. It might explain some things for you. Just promise me you won't laugh at me or tell anyone else, OK?"

He looked at her seriously. "You can trust me Sarah. I absolutely promise. I know _something _has been torturing you for years, so I'm sure whatever you're about to say is going to be the truth."

She told him absolutely everything. Starting with the Labyrinth the first time. She went into every detail that she felt was important. It took hours, and they were close to finishing the bottle of tequila, when she finished.

Patrick was shaking his head. "I don't know whatta say. If I din' know you were telling the truth, I'd say that thish sounded like a fantasick book. It freaks me out a little, knowin' there are things out there like that – places out there like that. But I knew that your prollems had to be guy prollems. But your guy sounds amazing," he said. "I'm nah sure I und'stand what the prollem is." His speech was a bit mushy, but still intelligible.

"The prollem is," slurred Sarah, "He has-hasn' aksd meback. An' I dunno why.

Mebbe he has a short 'tension span. Mebbe he's jus' like every other guy outthere."

Patrick lifted her up onto the couch, tucked a pillow under her head, and put a throw over her to cover her up. He had a feeling she would be sleeping soon.

"I dunn know Sare," he offered. "This sounds like it might just be a communication prollem. A mishundershtanding. I can't b'leeve you'd give up on someone like this wifout checking it out firs."

"I don' wanna. He's gonna rip my heart out, I know it."

"Oh Sare," worried Patrick aloud. "I really think…"

Suddenly the atmosphere shifted. Sarah was too drunk to notice it, but Patrick did. Then suddenly, a man stepped out of Sarah's bedroom. He looked down the hall and then to the living room where he saw them both.

"Dude! You mus be Jarress!" Patrick waved him over. Patrick tried to high-five him, but fell over.

Jareth's eyes went from Sarah to Patrick, then to the empty tequila bottle. Tonight was their date night for the week, but apparently Sarah had forgotten. Apparently she had also told Patrick about them. Jareth wondered how much. He looked at her, passed out on the couch, one arm thrown over her eyes. He approached her, gently shaking her arm. Her eyes fluttered open and she tried to sit up.

She looked at him and then clapped her hand over her mouth. "You're pretty." She cooed.

He rolled his eyes. "So you blew me off for a bottle of tequila? You know tequila is not good for you. It's certainly not as good for you as dinner, or as waking up next to me…"

"Oh no!" cried Patrick. "Straight people sex talk. Blech." Then a thought occurred to him. "Dude!" He shouted at Jareth. Jareth flinched. Patrick lowered his voice. "Dude, you and Sarah have something you really need ta talk abouw. I mean you _really_ have ta talk about it." Here he nodded sagely, "It involves living arrangements."

"Now f'you would be so kind as to take your lovely girlfrienn to the bedroom, I will crash on this lovely couch," Patrick said.

Jareth carefully picked up Sarah and took her into the bedroom. He shut the door with his foot, and set her down gently on the bed. As he was pulling the covers up over her, she woke again.

" 'M so sorry," she whispered. "I totally forgah about tonight. Patrick shurprised me and we started talking and…"

"And by the sound of things you told him about us." Jareth stated.

"I had to! I hadnooneelse to talkto! God knows _you_ weren't talking to me about it. You have no idea - _no_ idea how abs-abso-completely miserable I have been lately."

"Miserable, hmmm?" He cupped her cheek.

"Yesh!"

He smiled more broadly. "Why have you been miserable, Sarah?"

"Because yore gonna lemme go. Yore gonna jus'…" and here she made an overly dramatic pantomime of ripping something out of her chest, "rip out my heart!"

He couldn't resist. "Really? Rip your heart out?"

"Yesh."

"Sarah, love, I could never do that to you. I have to admit," and here he paused, "That I am relieved by tonight's conversation. However disjointed it was. Let's talk again once you've sobered up and are feeling better." He stood up to go.

"R'you leaving already? Don' go!"

He stopped, looking down at her. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Pleeze. I need you. I mean I rilly _really_ need you."

His heart leapt, even though he knew he was hearing this from a drunk person. But experience had taught him that generally, what people say when inebriated was invariably true.

He pulled his boots off, removed his shirt, and slid into bed next to Sarah. They spooned together tightly all night.


	17. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?

"We don't get unlimited chances to have the things that we want, and this I know. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could have changed your life." – Jareth

In the very early morning, Sarah slowly begin to wake up. As her memories started to come back to her, she was horrified. What had she done? What had she said? Had it been awful?

She could feel Jareth behind her, his arm resting on her hip. Her mouth was dry and tasted awful. She had to brush her teeth before anything else. Gingerly, she crept out of bed, trying not to wake Jareth.

She slunk into the bathroom, where she brushed her teeth and hair and washed her face. She applied a tiny bit of mascara and lip color, then tiptoed back to bed. Jareth looked like he was still sleeping, thank God. She sat down on the bed, preparing to get back in when Jareth said, eyes still closed, "So how are we feeling this morning?"

Shit.

"Just fine, she answered brightly. Then she re-thought that and sighed. I feel horrible. Death on toast horrible."

"Hmmm."

"I got all mushy, I know. And I'm pretty much sure that I told you everything that's been on my mind lately."

"That you did."

She hid her face behind her hands. "Oh God."

"Actually, between you and Patrick, you got across the message that I was hoping to hear."

She peeked at him between her fingers. "Really?" She squeaked.

He gently pulled her hands off her face and kissed her lightly. "Mmm. Really." He said. "Minty fresh. No fair. I didn't get to brush my teeth yet." He grinned at her. "You're an adorable drunk, you know."

As Jareth went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, Sarah headed into the kitchen to make some coffee. She was pleasantly surprised that the coffee was already made and saw Patrick, holding a mug and leaning against the counter, looking disgustingly pain-free and cheerful.

"Morning, Gorgeous! And how are we feeling since naughty Mr. Patrick brought his tequila over?"

"You are evil. Just, unadulterated evil."

He threw his head back and laughed, evilly.

"Seriously, though, how are things with that beautiful man of yours? Did we get the message across, do you think?"

"Not that I intended to, exactly that way," she said, "But yes, I believe we did. I have you to thank for that."

"If there's an upside to freefalling it's the chance that you give your friends the chance to catch you."

"I love you, you know," Sarah smiled.

"Always and forever, babes," he replied.

Jareth came into the kitchen. When he saw the coffee, his eyes lit up. "Oh, give me that!" Sarah poured him a mug, knowing he liked it black, and handed it to him.

He took a sip, and then looked at Patrick over the rim of the mug. "Well, it was really nice to meet you, _dude_," he said, over emphasizing the word. He didn't think he'd ever been called dude that many times before in his life, if at all.

Patrick smirked. "Well, I figured that you'd like it more than bitch."

He caught Jareth mid-sip. He meant to laugh, but it came out instead as a snort. He had to set his coffee on the counter to finish laughing, one hand covering his nose, bent over. Sarah cackled almost as hard, covering her mouth.

"Well," said Patrick, "I gotta bounce. Train leaves soon."

"Oh, I'm going to miss you so much!" Sarah sniffed. "Have a wonderful time at the Fest!" She gave him a huge hug.

"Jareth, _dude_, It was great meeting you." Patrick smiled and shook his hand.

"You two kids take care of each other. What you have is very special."

Sarah and Jareth smiled at one another. After Patrick left, they sat down on the couch together, holding hands.

Sarah said, "You know, I have lived. I've really really lived. I've failed. I've been devastated. I've been broken. I've gone to hell and back. And because of you, I've also known joy. And passion. And I've had a great love. I don't know if you'll ever know how much you mean to me."

Jareth replied,"I love everything about you. Even the things I don't like, I love. And I want you with me. I love you and I'm relatively certain you love me like that too. Do you?"

Jareth reached for both of her hands and kissed them, then held them to his heart. "So where does this leave us now? Will you come with me?"

Sarah had tears in her eyes, and she was nodding her head yes. Over and over. "Yes," she said. "Yes, yes, yes! I don't want to live one more day of my life without you,"she said.

Jareth handed her another linen handkerchief. "You never seem to have these when you need them,"he teased gently.

"I know," she sniffled. "I'm such a crier."

"Yet one more of the many things I love about you," he responded.

As school was over, and graduation was only two days away, Sarah went with Jareth back to the Underground. She could not believe how many people (and Goblins) were thrilled to see her. She was humbled and appreciative.

On the day of her graduation, she and Jareth went back up. They had brunch with Sarah's family, and attended the graduation ceremony. Sarah's father seemed to have great respect for Jareth, and that made Sarah very happy. Hopefully she and her dad could mend those fences in the future.

She proudly stood in her cap and gown for pictures with her friends, Jareth, and her family. She was glad she had decided to attend. She told Alicia and her family that she and Jareth would be moving to Ireland. This seemed the best way to explain her absence. She didn't take much from the apartment at all, leaving it for Alicia. There really wasn't anything that she needed in this world, besides the Labyrinth book her violin, and the owl feather.

To celebrate on their own, Jareth transported them up to a small town up in Sonoma. There were some of the most amazing wineries there, so they had dinner and a wine-tasting at a lovely place called Lynmar Estates for that evening. Jareth was so enamored of Wine Country that he declared they must take regular vacations there. He got no argument from Sarah.

After touring the vineyard's herb and flower gardens, they slipped into a redwood grove with privacy that would allow them to transport without being seen. Sarah took one last look around. "Are you going to miss this?" asked Jareth. "You know we can come back up here again anytime you want."

"I know," she said. "Just getting one last look before I start my new life with you." And she smiled at him. He opened his arms to her and she snuggled in tightly before they disappeared into a golden swirl.


	18. The Story

"All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I've been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don't mean anything

When you've got no one to tell them to

It's true: I was made for you."

Sarah and Jareth O'Rourke

Sarah and Jareth arrived in a shower of gold glitter into the throne room. Suddenly she felt something small fly into her shin and wrap around it. When she looked down, she saw Spam smiling delightedly up at her. "Lady Sarah! You back for good, right?"

"Yes, Spam, I am. And it is so good to see you!" Sarah smiled down at her.

"You has no luggage with you!" Spam noted.

"No, I don't. But if you would like to put this book and my violin in my room, that would be wonderful. I want to start a fresh new life here."

Jareth cleared his throat. "Actually, Spam, you may put that in my room. We will both be sleeping in that room from now on." He looked over at Sarah, just to make certain, and she smiled while shaking her head yes.

Jareth looked over at his throne. A smallish goblin was sitting on it, eating watermelon.

"Oy! Mumble! Get off my throne before I bog you!" Jareth yelled. It was all Sarah could do not to laugh at the small creature trying to climb down quickly from the large throne without dropping his huge slice of melon. He looked frightened, but not terrified. Apparently the bog threat was used fairly frequently.

"Bloody does that all the time. Makes my throne all sticky." He groused. Sarah chuckled silently and looked away.

As it was coming on another star filled night, they headed to the back garden to listen to the crickets and talk.

Jareth sat down on a wooden bench filled with pillows. He patted the bench next to him and Sarah joined him, leaning her head on his shoulder. The bench was underneath one of the rose arbors, and the roses here seemed to have a stronger fragrance than the ones back home, Sarah noted. The scent of them drifted delightfully throughout the air.

Jareth had put his arm around Sarah's shoulders. He gave her a gentle squeeze and then asked, "Can I call you Precious now? Because you will always be my Precious thing."

"Yes," Sarah smiled. "I'd say you've earned that right."

"Well, love. We have many things to discuss. And we needn't discuss all of them this evening. One of the most important things to me, however, is this - how do you feel about becoming immortal?"

Sarah had thought about this quite a bit, actually. But she had never asked Jareth about it. She didn't know if it was even possible, that he would want her to, that she would want to, or how he would feel about her aging while he didn't. So many questions.

He was looking at her intently, because he must've been doing that Tuath thing (without permission,) and began to answer her questions.

"Sorry for intruding on your thoughts, love," he said. "But this is so important to me, I couldn't wait. I hope you don't mind."

"Number one, it is possible. You will hopefully be married to me and you will be Queen. That gives you every right to seek immortality."

"Two, I very much would like you to. I want to spend forever with you. And forever, as we know, is not that long."

Here he smiled.

"Three, I cannot answer. That is entirely up to you, my love. Whatever your decision will be, I will support it. Which leads us to number four - if you do not wish to accept immortality, you will, of course, age. Not as quickly down here as you would Above, but you would age and eventually die nevertheless."

"I would love you to your death. If you age, your looks would change, certainly, but you will always be my beautiful Sarah. I need to say, however, that I would be heartbroken forever. You are my Anam Cara. I would not remarry, or even court anyone. I hope that doesn't add any pressure, but it needed to be said." He looked at Sarah intently.

She took a deep breath, and looked out across the garden. This was a huge decision. She had leanings one way, but she was still far from certain.

She asked, "Do I need to decide now? Can I have a little time?" She could see by the slump in his shoulders that he was disappointed, but he reached over and took her hand. "Precious, while I would like an answer immediately, that would be selfish of me. So I want you to take the time you need, and to be absolutely certain."

She loved him so much. And said so.

"Jareth? If I do decide to do this, is there a set time for it?"

He shook his head. "No. We could do it whenever you like, and whenever you feel ready."

Again, a deep breath and a long sigh. That was a huge relief. She began to feel much better about her decision.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by thousands of fireflies. Sparkling on the ground, several feet off the ground, in all of the bushes, trees and even the arbor. And not only were there thousands of them, they were all different colors. It was like a magical fairyland.

Then slowly, all of the rosebuds begin to open and bloom. Gradually they begin to glow. Another magical phenomenon in addition to the fireflies.

Pink rose petals begin to snow down from the skies, gently. Sarah looked at Jareth, who smiled back at her. She stood up and began to spin slowly with her arms out, looking up at the sky full of snowy pink petals falling down everywhere.

Suddenly, from somewhere behind the rosebushes, she heard a violin, and just as soon as she heard the first notes, she knew what song this was.

She looked down and saw she was no longer wearing her Aboveground clothes, but a gorgeous dress with a voluminous skirt of pale pink chiffon and a silver bejeweled, low-cut halter top.

Still spinning, she glanced over at Jareth whose clothing had changed as well. He was wearing the glittering, dark blue suit coat outfit that he had been wearing in the Peach Dream. He was on one knee. And he began to sing to her, accompanied by the violin:

"_There's such a sad love_

_Deep in your eyes_

_A kind of pale jewel_

_Open and closed_

_Within your eyes_

_I'll place the sky_

_Within your eyes__"_

"_There's such a fooled heart_

_Beatin' so fast_

_In search of new dreams_

_A love that will last_

_Within your heart_

_I'll place the moon_

_Within your heart__,"_

Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as tears began pooling in her eyes. She had no idea this was coming. Not this perfectly, anyway. All she could do was shake her head and continue to listen to him, gazing into his beautiful eyes.

"_As the pain sweeps through_

_Makes no sense for you_

_Every thrill is gone_

_Wasn't too much fun at all_

_But I'll be there for you-ou-ou_

_As the world falls down"_

"_Falling_

_As the world falls down_

_Falling_

_Falling in love"_

"_I'll paint you mornings of gold_

_I'll spin you Valentine evenings_

_Though we're strangers 'til now_

_We're choosing the path_

_Between the stars_

_I'll leave my love_

_Between the stars"_

"_As the pain sweeps through_

_Makes no sense for you_

_Every thrill is gone_

_Wasn't too much fun at all_

_But I'll be there for you-ou-ou_

_As the world falls down_

_Falling_

_As the world falls down_

_Falling_

_As the world falls down_

_Falling_

_Falling in love_

_As the world falls down_

_Falling_

_Falling in love"_

"_As the world falls down_

_Makes no sense at all_

_Makes no sense to fall_

_Falling_

_As the world falls down,"_

"_Falling_

_Falling in love_

_As the world falls down_

_Falling_

_Falling in love."_

By the time he had finished, tears were flowing down her cheeks and she made no attempt to wipe them away. Jareth's eyes were standing with tears as well, and he was barely able to sing the last several lines of the song, as his voice was starting to leave him.

She looked at him with love, kneeling there before her, as he took her hand.

"Sarah my darling, I have loved you always. From the moment I met you, and for forever. If you agree to be my wife, I promise you mornings of gold, Valentine evenings, and the most magical and happiest of lives that we could ever have. I promise to stand by you in good times and in bad. I promise to be faithful, to protect you, to always be by your side, and know that we will forever be equals and partners. So I ask you now, will you marry me?"

Sarah stood there, hand in hand with Jareth and shaking. Her other hand was still over her mouth and she began to nod yes. "Yes," she said. "Yes! I could never live without you, and I will love you forever. I promise to be faithful and to protect you as well. I shall always be by your side, and an equal." Here she smiled."You mean the world to me Jareth, I would be beyond happy to be your partner and wife!"

Jareth slipped the engagement ring onto her finger. Knowing that Sarah didn't care for diamonds, he had designed a large, rectangular, cushion cut, aqua sapphire for the ring. Sarah absolutely loved it.

Suddenly there was applause and cheering all around them. She looked around in wonderment as she saw her father, Karen and Toby step out from the bushes. They were dressed in Underground clothing, and looked wonderful. Then she saw Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo step out from the bushes as well. Hoggle was sniffling already and wiping his eyes. Ludo was trying to brush all of the rose petals from his face.

Dressed in their best, Finn and Ixonia, holding hands, stepped out from the bushes, Finn holding a very large bottle of champagne over his head and smiling from ear to ear.

Then, Sarah was stunned to see a beautiful woman in a flowing, sparkling golden dress followed by an elegant, older looking man. The man was holding the hand of a gorgeous auburn haired girl that Sarah guessed to have been about her own age. The girl had eyes that reminded her of Jareth, and she definitely had his mischievous grin.

As they stepped over to them, Jareth put his hand on Sarah's back and said, "Sarah, I would like you to meet my family. This is my mother Brielle," and the woman curtsied, "My father Cillian, of the House O'Rourke, and the man bowed regally, "and my younger sister Eimile. We are particularly happy that she is here, as she has spent her gap year Above and only recently returned home."

Eimile ran up to Sarah and gave her a huge hug. "I can tell we're going to be wonderful friends already!"

As Sarah and Eimile held hands, Jareth said, "I apologize for my sister's lack of decorum. I would like to say that it is due to her time Above, but the truth of it is that Eimile has always been our wild one."

Eimile feigned outrage, saying, "Look who's talking. You must be kidding me. You seem to have forgotten your younger years, Jareth!" She squeezed Sarah's hand and told her quietly, "Wait until you hear the stories I can tell _you_!"

Jareth's super Fae hearing caught that. "She won't be able to hear you once you're in the Oubliette!"

Eimile slitted her eyes at him. "Not again! I told you that I would kill you the last time you did that!"

Jareth just laughed. "I told you I can be cruel."

The lovely blonde woman gracefully approached them and put her hands on Jareth's shoulders from behind. "Now children," she said. "It has been centuries since I last needed to intervene. Let's not let it happen again, shall we?" And she smiled at Sarah.

Sarah curtsied before Jareth's mother, who laughed lightly and said, "Oh my darling, let's not stand on ceremony here. I already consider you my daughter. And I so look forward to getting to know you." She kissed Sarah on both cheeks.

A tall, slender, very good looking older man stepped up. Jareth's father. She could see where Jareth got most of his looks. He kissed Sarah's hand and stepped back to look at her, holding both of her hands."I understand that you have many other incredible qualities, young lady, but you must be the loveliest woman I have seen in a long time. After my wife," he quickly added.

Jareth gave her a toothy grin.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone came running out at her and grabbed her around the waist from behind. Then they began spinning around with her. "Sare-bear!" She could hear in her ear. Patrick. No one else would do that. She turned around with a huge smile, saying, "And you're here too! I don't know how you and Jareth made this work!" Patrick gave her a final hug and stepped back.

Her father, Karen and Toby approached.

Toby had barely been able to conceal his impatience as he waited for his turn to talk to his sister. He flew at her now, hugging her around the waist. He looked up at her. "Now mom and dad finally believe me when I say I know the Goblin King! And you're marrying him! I knew you guys loved each other, I just knew it!"

He stepped up to Jareth, who picked him up under his arms and swung him around in the air. "I hear you remember our dance!" Jareth chuckled. "We shall have to do that again sometime soon, shall we?" He winked at Toby.

Sarah turned to see her father standing before her. He had tears in his eyes. "Sarah," he said, I would like so much for us to put the past behind us and start anew. I have tried to be the best father for you that I could be, and I think I failed. I will not fail you now." Sarah reached out and hugged him. She whispered in his ear, "Dad, it's you who should forgive me. You _were_ a good father, and I was an unforgiving brat. I would like us to start fresh, also." And she kissed him on the cheek.

Karen approached her tentatively. "Sarah, I know I'm a poor substitute for the mother that you had. But I would like to try to be a part of your life. I know you haven't always cared for me, but believe it or not, I do love you. Please know that. And please know that your father and I are so very happy for you." Sarah smiled as she hugged Karen and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm glad that you are a part of our family, Karen,"she said. "I'm glad you're here. And you have brought Toby into our lives, who I love more than you'll ever know."

She looked up, expecting to talk to her three friends, when she saw them setting up a table with beautiful fruit platters, flowers and champagne glasses. Didymus was giving instructions, and Ludo and Hoggle were doing their best to comply.

Ixonia gave her a hug as she headed toward the table, preparing to help Finn pour the champagne. Finn kissed her on the cheek as he passed her with the obscenely huge bottle. He whispered to her, "I have magicked this bottle. It will never be empty. We're going to have ourselves a _party_ tonight!"

She smiled at Jareth as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She looked up at him. "I don't know how you arranged all this, but it was absolutely perfect. I couldn't have imagined anything like this, ever."

He smiled at her and then asked, "So when would you like to have this wedding? Would you care for a long engagement, or have it sooner? My sister is dying to be your wedding planner."

Sarah smiled, and reached out to cup Jareth's cheek in one hand. "My love," she said, "I think we should do this as soon as possible!"

"I was hoping you'd say that," he smiled. And he bent down to kiss her.

**Aaand that's a wrap!**

**I hope you enjoyed my tale. I've come to love these characters so much it was hard to say goodbye to them. Not to mention the fact that I didn't get the wedding in yet. So there will definitely be a sequel, there will certainly be a wedding, although it may not go as expected….**

**Here's the pronunciation guide for Jareth's family:**

**His mother, Brielle = bri-ELL**

**His father, Cillian = KILL-ee-ann **

**His sister, Eimíle = EM-eel-eh (Think an Irish Amelia.)**

**While Brielle herself comes from an Irish family of High Kings, Cillian's family, who also come from High Kings; therefore O'Rourke, is also descended from the Tuatha dé god, Lugh. More on that in the next story. **

**Pronunciation: Lugh = LUHx. Not exactly ****an easy one, and my attempt at explaining it may not be perfect. That last syllable sounds like it's in the back of your throat, but fairly soft. If you get what that means.**

**Credits****:**

**The incomparable Shonda Rhimes for most of the quotes. **

**David Bowie for the song, **_**As the World**____**Falls Down**_** – David is an absolutely talented and magical songwriter, performer, singer and actor with kindness, humour and good looks. Like his real life wife of 24 years, Iman, I refuse to speak of him in the past tense. **

**The artists who lent song titles that I stole for chapter names: David Bowie, The Beatles, Hüsker Dü, Elvis Costello, Mumford & Sons, Sarah McLachlan, The Pretenders, The Offspring, Maximilian, The Smiths, Leonard Cohen, Nelly Furtado, Coldplay, Mariah Carey, Vera Lynn, and Brandi Carlile. **

**Feichfidh mé ar ball thú!**

**(See you later!)**

**Maire**


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